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•T he I FP • H al to n H ill s •T hu rs da y, M ay 3 0, 2 01 3 6 OPINION It's oh-so-easy to be cynical about the Western GTA Summit that was held in Mississauga last week. It amounted to seven hours of talk by com- munity leaders about how the time for talking is over-- and the time for action is here. It's already evident that the time for action was a couple of decades ago. The major issues on the table-- the need for more walkable, liveable neighbourhoods, the absolute requirement for first-class public tran- sit and the need to drive the economy forward without leaving an impoverished underclass in its wake-- should have been integrated into the planning processes of the GTA as it evolved. But no one was co-ordinating anything in the region. Ontario's government proved impotent. It was afraid to abrogate developers' property rights and/or incur the wrath of civic leaders all determined to build their own "unique" cookie- cutter municipalities. The essential question posed at the summit was "Are We Facing Economic Gridlock?" The answer is a clear yes, or else there would be no need for this discussion in the first place. So how do we dig out of this mess? Several speakers made the point that most of the required tools, especially to deal with traffic gridlock, are already on the table. But it appears the GTA will have to come to a dead halt before we summon the will to use them. And the sad reality is that Toronto-- the key missing player-- is not that interested in finding a solution. As some politicians admitted, our fragmented model of shared governance is a major impedi- ment to action. Parochialism promotes paralysis, which appears to be what we currently have. We hoped this summit would start to provide some answers. Instead, the unanswered ques- tions just seem to loom larger and larger. The Independent & Free Press is published Tuesday and Thursday and is one of several Metroland Media Group Ltd. community newspapers. Edi- torial and advertising content of The Independent & Free Press is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. The Independent & Free Press Questions remain Steve Nease Letters to the editor Dear editor, Re: Toronto Premium Outlets Job Fair. We would like to take this oppor- tunity to provide clarification about the upcoming job fair. It is our goal that Toronto Pre- mium Outlets, the country's first up- scale outlet center, become a source of pride for the residents of Halton Hills. It is our hope that it will be a place residents will want to shop and work. We are very excited to be bringing more than 800 full and part-time jobs to the community. Our company's vast experience with job fairs has shown that a facil- ity is needed that can accommodate our merchants and the thousands of potential job applicants that will attend on the day of the event. Adequate parking that doesn't interfere with existing businesses or local traffic is a must. A job fair like this could have hundreds of cars converging on nearby malls and neighbouring businesses, detrimen- tally affecting their business. Nu- merous visits and inspections of the facilities that were available in Hal- ton Hills were undertaken including the Mold-Masters SportsPlex and while it was our desire to host the event locally, the issues with park- ing and the impact on surrounding businesses could not be overcome. We worked closely with Town staff exploring many options. Staging the event in multiple venues or over a number of days was not a practical option for our merchants or for the applicants themselves. We are confident that many Halton Hills residents will find employment opportunities at Toronto Premium Outlets for years to come. We intend to work closely within the community to become an inte- gral part of Halton Hills. Megan Johnson, General Manager, Toronto Premium Outlets Letters policy 905-873-0301 Publisher: Dana Robbins General manager: Steve Foreman (sforeman@theifp.ca) Retail advertising manager: Cindi Campbell (ccampbell@theifp.ca) Managing editor: John McGhie (jmcghie@theifp.ca) Distribution manager: Nancy Geissler (ngeissler@theifp.ca) Classifieds Kristie Pells (classified@theifp.ca) Accounting Rose Marie Gauthier Editorial Cynthia Gamble: News editor (cgamble@theifp.ca) Ted Brown: Photography (tbrown@theifp.ca) Lisa Tallyn: Staff writer (ltallyn@theifp.ca) Eamonn Maher: Staff writer/sports (emaher@theifp.ca) Toronto Premium Outlets will be hosting a job fair June 6 at the Milton Sports Centre. Will you, or someone you know, attend the fair? • No (58%) • Yes (42%) WEB POLL RESULTS (Go to www.theifp.ca) Job fair venue was not available here Support appreciated Food drive a success Letters must include an address and daytime phone number. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 150 words and may be edited for content and/or length. Publication is not guaranteed. Email: jmcghie@theifp.ca Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 29, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1. Dear editor, To the community of Halton Hills: Our family would like to pass on a quick note to simply say thanks for the overwhelming amount of love and sup- port we have received upon the sudden passing of our son Colby. The Halton Hills community is a very strong one and your sincere and genuine kindness at this most difficult time is truly appreciated and will never be forgotten. Thank you. Mike and Kate Hancock, Georgetown Dear editor, Thanks to Holy Cross Parish for its generous support of the Georgetown Bread Basket in hosting its third an- nual Mother's Day Food Drive in which more than 400 bags of food were donated. Also, a special thanks to the Knights of Columbus for all their hard word in transporting the food to the food bank. Elizabeth Vagg, Georgetown