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niJmiW Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established A Division of Canadian Newspapers Company Limited Guelph Street Georgetown L7G 3Z6 Ontario DAVID A BEATTIE Publisher and General Manager Liberals trip over themselves BRIAN Editor Phone 2201 DAN TAYLOR Advertising Manager Ian Mail jthlrrrd Number MU THE HERALD September 7 1989 mi I- ill i J Surprise move We are surprised to see the town take a stand against the Greater Toronto Area committee GTA at the request of the citizens group POWER yet we share some councillors concerns At the request of POWER Protect Our Water and En vironmental Resources the town endorsed a letter to the ministry of environment calling the five region committee undemocratic and unaccountable to the people The letter also says the landfill crisis across Ontario has been orchestrated The GTA committee is seeking a solution to the landfill management problem in southern Ontario Its member ship consists of the chairmen of the five Regions lit Halton at least our chairman Pete Pomeroy is not direct ly elected by people We are sure Chairman Pomeroy is ting diligently in Halton best interest but as Burlington proved earlier this year when their successful fight against the Regional landfill site came to an end sometimes its best to go into these things kicking and screaming all the way Its easy for someone to be brought along slowly in such a small group with members eager to get along and Halton could easily be on the receiving end of a mound of Torontos waste if it doesnt watch its steps We disagree with POWERS assertion that the landfill crisis has been orchestrated Anytime we are burying our waste in huge pits that can end up 60 ft high with the potential of poisoning the environment it is indeed a crisis Now some councillors will have some explaining to do at Halton Region Will the town teeth behind the letter and ask to pull out of the We doubt it In a surprising footnote to this story some councillors said they feel ill informed about the GTA 111 informed There has been enough media coverage of the GTA locally to keep politicians briefed on whats going on But its up to our local representatives to keep abreast of such crucial developments Sitting back and waiting for a report from colleagues just isnt good enough Residents respond year when Georgetown Volunteer Ambulance President Doug McLeod asked for help Actons new ambulance service was in trouble There enough Ac ton volunteers to keep the service staffed Doug McLeod asked for help and he got it Although there s still a need for ambulance volunteers in Acton we re sure the service will survive just as we re sure the Halton Hills Volunteer Centre will fill many of its positions eventually So if you ve got some spare time on your hands and you re looking for a hobby or if you just want to help volunteer work can be very rewarding Brian MacLeod Edttois Notebook Sometime It just takes a little reminder but you the residents of Halton Hills always seem to res pond A story by Herald reporter Ben Dummett on page this week seems to indicate that volunteers are a dying breed in Halton Hills Of course there are still those who work tirelessly to make sure that the many organizations and vice dubs are a vibrant part of the community but volunteers as we used to know them seem to be fewer and farther between in But we saw what happened last If you re a photography buff you can take in the show and presents of the Halton Hills Camera Club Photo Contest winners Oct 16 This year the club wilt be offer ing prizes in black and white and color in People Places and the always popular Other categories You must be a member of the camera club to participate and en tries must be submitted to the Helton Camera Exchange by Oct In one of the more remarkable con jobs ever done on the media here the Liberal government has managed to repudiate everything it has said about auto insurance without drawing any serious criticism They 11 be giggling and laughing about this one in government com departments for a long time To wit Premier David Peterson had promised to lower rates He promised an end to age and sex discrimination in rates And he promised a ratereview board dependent of government All three commitments are now in the trash can Tfie Liberals set up the Ontario Automobile Insurance Board to establish autoinsurance rates in Ontario The OAIB which the govern ment boasted was free of its in went through a series of hearings to determine what the rates for 1989 should be In February the announc its decision which amounted to allowing the insurance companies rate increases of up to per cent a basic increase and a nine per cent addon At the same time and consistent with the legislation under which the was established the board said there would be a one time adjustment in the rates to end discrimination on grounds of sex age and marital status In practice this meant male drivers under 25 would see cuts in their premiums while women drivers and older people would be seeing horrendous increases of up to 80 per cent Both women and oldsters as groups have much superior driving records to young males and benefit from the ex Esting discriminatory method of calculating rates Worse even young male drivers who have had accidents would see a reduction from current rates under the antidiscrimination ap proach The insurance companies didnt care mind you since it would simply shift the cost between classes rather than hold down the overall rates they d charge The result since as many as one million people were now suddenly threatened by a neardoubling of premiums was a quick cooling of the Liberals anti egalitarian fever DEFERRED This spring they brought in legislation that effectively ended their board independence and deferred any anti discriminatory rating system An interim increase was allowed Hence too the charade last week where one genuine change to the system partial fault in surance was packaged with the usual decadeold program of get ting tough on drunk drivers and similar stuff to cover up the government full scale retreat on all the promises Masterful choreography NDP critic Peter Kormos called it True on discrimination the Grits claim that the type of nofault they ve brought in will mean a gradual shift away from rates em sex and age to ones highlighting geography and use But that will be over considerable time In the meantime discrimination stays What doesnt survive is the OAIB which cost million to cobble together and which is now abolished It will be replaced by another board which will cost another HO million The new board the Insurance Commission will do the same job as the old board except that it will individually approve rate in creases companies To keep the increases down in the first year the government expects these to be an average eight per cent in urban areas and zero In rural areas the Liberals have pumped in what amounts to million plus in subsidies through tax and payment changes for the insurance companies The Liberals expect their word these to be passed on in premium savings Former MPP Eh Martel had a line he used to use a lot It fits in this case This truly is the most remarkable conversion since Saul hit the road to Damascus LETTERS Mulroneys remarks are confusing smoke screen teachers chief says EDITORS NOTE The following letter by Jim Head president of the Ontario Secondary School Teacher Federation to Prime Minister Brian Mnlroney was filed with Uw Herald for publication Dear Prime Minister Your recent condemnation of Canadian education widely quoted in the media both hurt and confus ed many of our members at a time of year when they would like to re enter the classroom with a sense of purpose and renewed enthusiasm As the president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation which represents MOOD members I also found your remarks confusing 1 Your fervently supports increased immigration Yet by reducing transfer payments to the provinces you make it more difficult to provide extra uodlng for badly needed English as a second language resources and teachers 2 You speak of the need to en courage technology in Canada Yet is was an earlier Conservative government which axed the space program 30 years ago and made this country a bystander in electronics You speak of the need for more research in this country Yet I note that Northern Telecom is moving to Texas because of your govern s free trade policies You speak about the education Yet the pro posed nine per cent national sales tax will have a significant negative effect upon education through ex tra hidden costs which parents and students will have to bear Hardest hit will be single parents and their children 5 A federal government which seriously believed in encouraging the highest possible standards would help establish a Canadian equivalent of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT in each province How often have you taken the time to visit schools like Marc Garneau Secondary School in Metropolitan Toronto East York which is named for our well known Canadian astronaut and which en courages student interest In space technology I could point to scores of similar examples of excellence throughout this entire province Your remarks sir sound like a smoke screen for a move to cut back on public funding for educa while moving towards privatization of the education system following Margaret That cher lead Surely students and parents across this country deserve better