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6 THE NEW TANNER THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2007 EDITORIAL Distributed to every home in Acton and area as well as adjoining communities. 373 Queen Street East, Unit 1 Acton, Ontario L7J 2N2 email: thenewtanner@on.aibn.com Frances Niblock Mike OLeary Angela Tyler Rebecca Ring Publisher Editorial Ted Tyler Hartley Coles Editorial Contributors Advertising and Circulation Composing Marie Shadbolt Bruce Cargill Danielle McIsaac By Angela Tyler with Hartley Coles (519) 853-0051 Fax: (519) 853-0052 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. All articles, advertisements and graphic artwork appearing in The New Tanner is copyrighted. Any usage, reproduction or publication of these items, in whole or in part, without the express written consent of the publisher of The New Tanner is a copyright infringement and subject to legal action. People in Toronto pay the lowest property taxes in the GTA ac- knowledges city councillor Howard Moscoe in a letter to the Toronto Star. So why are Toronto taxpayers so opposed to the proposed land transfer tax and motor vehicle registration fee that would have raised $356 million to help ease a $575 million budget shortfall? Thats easy. No one likes a hike in their cost of living. But Moscoes correct in noting Torontos property taxes are well below those in 905 regions of Halton, Peel, York and Durham. And thats a major part of the problem. Torontos city council froze property taxes, or only raised them slightly, when the Province downloaded costs on all Ontario munici- palities. The other municipalities however, bit the bullet, increasing property taxes well above the rate of inflation to balance budgets. Now the chickens are coming home to roost in Toronto and the city wants sympathy for the rest of Ontario municipalities all in the same downloading boat. Halton Region along with York and Peel got some relief in the 2007 provincial budget when Queens park began easing the obligations to fund some of Torontos social services. By 2013 it saves them $200 million a significant amount. Toronto meanwhile, received approval to levy other funds which led to the proposed land transfer tax and increase in vehicle regis- tration fees. City council, however delayed making a decision until the fall, obviously to wait the results of the upcoming election and possibly a more sympathetic government. Its true, as Toronto politicians maintain, that the city has unique challenges other municipalities dont face, But they also have ser- vices people in small towns, can only dream of. When the city increases its property taxes to match those in other municipalities must pay then theyll get support from the rest of the province to march to Queens Park for relief. Meanwhile, we can only sit and watch as Toronto, the richest city in the province and all of Canada, struggles to pay its own way. No longer a runt Frustrated that the high Canadian dollar is not having an effect on the price of imported goods? So is federal finance minister Jim Flaherty. He has told business leaders the government expects then to pass savings from the higher Canadian dollar to consumers. If consumers dont see the benefits soon, Flaherty says, they should exert pressure on companies by shopping around for the lowest prices. Hardly a significant slap on the fingers buts a recognition at least that business has not responded to the loonies new status. Many prices on imports from greeting cards to cars were set when the loonie was running around 65 cents on the U.S. buck. As of last Friday the Canadian dollar was valued at 94.83 after rising as high as 96.36 U.S. on July 24. Mr. Flahertys suggestion that Canadians shop around for lower prices sounds like an invitation to shop in the U.S. where prices are remarkably lower. However, he says hes concerned Canadians might shop in the U.S. unless business responds to the loonies rise in value. Its a little late since it is already a fact. Business leaders, responded to Flahertys remarks saying inven- tories of goods purchased was done when the dollar was weak. Corporate planning periods are longer that a few months, they say. However their argument loses some credibility since a recent Bank of Montreal report shows the loonie has appreciated 50 per cent over the last five years, not a few months. Obviously, Canadians are not benefiting from the meteoric rise in the dollar and we should shop around for value reminding retailers our buck is no longer the runt of five years ago. I have to admit there is probably nothing more I enjoy more than when the Dude and I have one of our road trips. Whether they are a one day, or a multi day outing, I treasure the time we have with just ourselves and where ever our travels take us. It being a long weekend last weekend we couldnt miss another opportunity for quality time. We werent really sure what we were going to do, but in the end we shuffled off to just outside of Buf- falo. Friends of the Dude told him about a little town there that is full of antique markets and stores. We had been there before and it seemed like a nice idea to go again. Im not too big on antiques. However, the Dude likes roaming for interesting trinkets and fireman memorabilia to add to Dude Srs collection. My compromise was that he wasnt to grump when he took me to my three favourite American storesTarget, J.C. Penney and the Dollar Tree. We had a great weekend, with the exception of taking two hours at Niagara Falls to go two kilome- ters to get to the actual bridge. The weather was great. The shopping was pleasurable for both of us and we got to see a few new places we hadnt been before. On the first night we stayed in Rochester and I was delighted to find out what a nice city it is. We were planning on staying there the second night and take the Breeze high speed ferry across Lake On- tario back to Toronto, that was until we found out it ceased operations. So with that, we decided to go off the beaten path and take roads less travelled back to Ontario. I have absolutely no problem reading maps in Canada. I have no problem with directions or knowing which way is north, south, east or west when travelling. However, once I cross the 49th parallel, my sense of direc- tion basically goes down the drain. The Dude has found this out the hard way several times. My map reading skills are frus- trating for him, especially when we are coming up to a split in the road and hes almost begging me to make a decision as to which way we are supposed to go. Can you just pull over and take a look at this and see what you think? I asked him on Saturday. Where do you think I can pull over? Just tell me which way, he responded in angst. I think to the right, I replied with hesitation. Once again, I had success in my screwed-up sense of direction. And, once again, I was able to head ourselves into yet another seedy area of town. In almost every place we have been in the U.S., I have single-handedly been able to find the ghetto as the Dude describes it. One time it was really scary. We were in Detroit at around midnight. There we were, lost Canadians with an Ontario licence plate, and I had to go into an all night convenience store that had bars on the windows to ask for directions. Luckily, it was a Sunday after- noon this time when I found the ghetto. As we somehow found our way out, I noticed a sign on a funeral home. The Dude said I had to get a picture of it and maybe send it into the Tonight Show for their headlines and odd photo segments. With a quick U turn, we were sud- denly in front of the AMIGONE funeral home. When I told my sister about it, she thought it must be a joke and Not much sympathy Off the beaten path with the Dude Continued on page 7