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It‘s time politicians at Queens park and Ottawa learned to live by the same rules as the rest of us. Revamping the overly generous penâ€" sion plans politicians have awarded themselves at the taxpayers‘ expense at least a start and long overdue. We suggest simple common sense be applied. If a former member of the legislature is working for another provincial government agenâ€" cy, ie. Ontario Egg Marketing Board, they should not be eligible for a pension. Also a minimum age should be set that is comparable to workers‘ pensions plans. In addition, MPPs who quit before their term is over ( except in the case of personal illness) should not be allowed to collect their pension â€" and they should definitely not be receiving severance pay. But hopefully this will not stop Rae from borrowing from these bills which would have stopped politicians from collecting them until they turn 55 or 60. The plan currently allows m ost defeated or retired politicians to collect benefits after serving five years in the legislaâ€" ture. To be eligible for a full pension, a politician‘s age and years of service must total 55. Two private members‘ bills have already attempted to change the politicians‘ pension plan, but both failed to garner support in the legisâ€" lature. Not surprising, since few private member‘s bills ever enacted. The unfairness of the Ontario MPP pension plan was recently brought to light when Liberal Remo Mancini, who represented Essex South, quit at the age of 41 with a pension of about $48,000 a year for the rest of his life indexed to the rate of inflation. he also received a severance cheque of $45,000. Few other workers in Ontario would receive the same payments for quitting their jobs. For unlike the ordinary working stiff MPPs don‘t have to wait until 60 or 65 to collect the pension and don‘t have to be retired in order to collect it. They can even be still working for the government in another capacity and still collect their MPPs‘ pension. The current pension plan costs Ontario taxpayers about $5.1 milâ€" lion a year for more than 200 former politicians and their dependents. Do you prefer the CFL to the NFL? RESULTS OF LAST WEEK‘S POL! Cast your ballot by calling 845â€"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. Do you believe that Canada should adopt stiffer gun control laws? If. Ms. Mulvale would also use the media it might save enough money to conserve a couple more jobs and perhaps a tree or two. I am a pensioner without access to town staâ€" tionery, secretarial services or postage machine. For economy reasons I must use the media. Ms. Mulvale has responded on Town stationery with a 10â€"page (with attachments) letter to me and three others. She suggests that our correspondence should be private, rather than through the media. Earlier in July I wrote to The Beaver suggesting that Ann Mulvale give up her various salaries as mayor while she is campaigning to become a Member of Parliament. In these austere times, this might allow the town and the region to maintain jobs for a couple of clerks. First of all, you implied in your column that it was the party‘s Calgary executive that was responsible for the ouster from the party of John Gamble and David Andrus, that is incorrect. The decision, which was unanimous, to expel these gentlemen was made by the 23 duly elected members of our Executive Council. These council members were elected to their position by the delegates at our past Winnipeg convention. The council‘s mandate is to make decisions on behalf of the membership, taking into consideration the best interests of the party as a whole. Mayor‘s response was too much for pensioner Dear Sir: In response to your July 23rd editorial "Reform Party Woes", I find it a bit alarming that a newspaper of The Beaver‘s stature would print such an editorial without first verifying the facts. Since you choose not to confirm your information pertaining to the Somersallâ€"Andrus affair, I would like to take this opportunity to enlighten you. Reform candidate says editorial off base The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments.. All letters must be signed and include the writer‘s address and phone number. Letters should be typed, doubleâ€"spaced and addressed to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. L6K 354 David Chamberlain In closing, I would just like to say that I find it a bit disturbing, but not surprising, that after basically ignoring the Reform Party of Oakwville for the past\ three years, you suddenly decide to give this small rift within our party such extensive coverage. We look forâ€" ward to the same inâ€"depth coverage of my campaign. Richard Malboeuf Reform Party Candidate Oakvilleâ€"Milton In reference to your concern about the future of the Reform Party of Oakyvilleâ€"Milton due to this matter, let me assure the riding association is in fine shape. We have a new executive in place, as well as, a primed and enthusiastic new campaign team. We will be ready to fight the election on the issues that are real concern to the voters of Oakvilleâ€"Milton. Somersall‘s resignation and Andrus‘ ouster from our party are not the reasons this country is saddled with a $490â€"billion debt, or why we have 1.6 million Canadians on unemployâ€" ment, and another 2 million on welfare. Nor are they the reasons for our current justice system that places the rights of criminals ahead of the well being and safety of law abiding citizens, or for the open door immigration policy and refugee fiasco we face in this country. These are the issues the citizens of Oakvilleâ€" Milton will want to see addressed in the upcoming election, and those are the issues I will be addressing in my campaign. As to the further implication that the Calgary execâ€" utive was also responsible for the ouster of Andrus as Somersall‘s campaign manager you are again mistakâ€" en. Party headquarters does not have the authority to tell a candidate who his/her campaign manager is to be. Calgary did express to Somersall their concerns pertaining to the fact that as campaign manager Andrus would be entitled to receive highly sensitive material, Calgary expressed to Somersall that they maybe reluctant to pass on such information to a nonâ€" member and that this might mean depriving Somersall information vital to his campaign. Rather than relieve Andrus as campaign manager Somersall chose to resign. This was unfortunate, but the choice was defiâ€" nitely Somersall‘s not Calgary‘s.