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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday July 25, 2007 - 9 `You have to be straight with people': Tory Continued from page 5 "I've looked at the options, I've looked at our needs, I've looked at the fact that there are limited choices available to us," said Tory. "Our energy security is important, we should be honest with people about how we are going to address it, one of the options that has to be included is nuclear power. To just try to pretend you're kind of half in favour of it or a quarter in favour of it or that it's perfect, because it isn't perfect, doesn't work. You have to be straight with people." Tory feels his business background as president and CEO of Rogers Media and Rogers Cable has given him the competence to run the province while, in the area of fairness, Tory points towards the existing Ontario government as an example of what not to do. "It really doesn't make much sense to spent $2.5 million suing the parents of children with autism in court when you could be applying that money to making sure you're providing proper care for them," said Tory, referring to a recent controversy in which the provincial government accumulated seven years worth of legal fees fighting a lawsuit from parents who wanted the government to pay for their autistic children's therapy. "If we have a child with a heart condition we don't say to them, `you pay half and we'll pay half to look after that heart condition.' Autism is just another thing that can affect someone in a medical way but we did that and then, on top of everything, we sued them in court. That's not fair." John Tory In addition to making some of his platforms known Tory noted that to implement these ideas effectively a world-class team would be needed. Tory says Byers is an important part of that team. "I want you to know that I personally set about trying to recruit him probably about three years ago," said Tory. "Our energy security is important, we should be honest with people about how we are going to address it..." John Tory Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader "This man should be in public life. You know how difficult it is getting good people to run. He's a good person, he'll be a leading person in any government I form trying to get the things done that I've talked about." With their speeches complete Byers and Tory moved from the talking part of the afternoon to the listening part speaking to a variety of people with a variety of concerns. Jane Hawkrigg, a member of the Oakville Lakeside Residence Association, came to the recep- tion to talk with Tory and Byers about the increasing property taxes being faced by many of her organization's members. "We have people who are part of the Oakville Lakeside Residence Association who have lived in our area for 20-30 years who are feeling they are going to be forced out of their homes because they can no longer afford the property taxes," said Hawkrigg. "When we budget for our household expenses, whether it be utilities or whatever, we usually plan on the cost of living plus something else. This doesn't allow us to do that. We've seen people in the last five years in our communities whose property taxes have doubled and you can't plan for that or manage that. That could destroy the fabric of neighbourhoods." Hawkrigg's concerns about property taxes were only one of the topics brought before Tory and Byers during the reception. Anne Reid, a former public school teacher grilled the Conservative duo on the party platform of funding religion based schools. "This distresses me. When I moved from Montreal 40 years ago what made me really happy was that our kids would go together to school and high school," said Reid. "I think it's a pity they're separated by their own choice now but if they want to do it let them do it but I don't think they should be funded out of the public tax dollars." Even though Reid believes her conversation with Tory and Byers will have little impact on Conservative policy she is still glad she got to address her con- cerns directly to them. Members of Oakville's municipal government were also happy to have Byers and Tory on hand to discuss the future of development charges. "We've been trying to get all the parties to agree to make modifications to development charges, to take us back to where we were in the 1990s when the development charges were fully covered by the development community," said Tom Adams, Ward 6 regional councillor. "Right now they don't cover all those costs and every time a new house gets built you and I end up paying for part of the bill and it's simply not a fair mechanism for funding the infrastructure that's needed." OAKVILLE - Celebrating 150 years! NOTICE OF STUDY COMMENCEMENT & PUBLIC INFORMATION CENTRE #1 North Satellite Operations Depot and Patrol Yard Class Environmental Assessment The Town of Oakville has initiated a study to establish a new North Satellite Operations Depot and Patrol Yard. As the population and developed area increases in the northern area of Oakville, a new Depot and Patrol Yard is required to meet increased service demands and to minimize travel times for operations and maintenance crews to maintain the Town's road infrastructure & park lands/open space assets. This study will review potential sites for this new facility within the area outlined in the map. Members of the public are invited to attend a Public Information Centre (PIC) on: Thursday, July 26, 2007 --7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Oakville Town Hall, 1225 Trafalgar Road, Committee Room #1 potential sites under consideration for the North Satellite Operations Depot and Patrol Yard. Members of the public are encouraged to attend this information centre and to provide their views and comments for consideration as the study progresses. McCormick Rankin Corporation will undertake this study on behalf of the Town of Oakville. The study is being conducted in accordance with Schedule `C' of the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (June 2000), which is approved under the Ontario Environmental Assessment Act. Consultation will take place throughout the study with external agencies, property owners and the public, including Public Information Centres (PICs) at two study milestones. A second PIC, planned for later in 2007, will present the analysis / evaluation of the potential sites and the preferred site and layout for the North Satellite Operations Depot and Patrol Yard. Mr. Chris Mark Director of Parks and Open Space P.O. Box 310, 1225 Trafalgar Road, Oakville, Ontario L6J 5A6 Phone: (905) 845-6601, extension 3111 Fax: (905) 338-4188 e-mail: cmark@oakville.ca Mr. Ted Gill, P. Eng, MCIP Consultant Project Manager, McCormick Rankin Corporation 2655 North Sheridan Way, Mississauga, Ontario, L5K 2P8 Phone: (905) 823-8500 Fax: (905) 823-8503 e-mail: tgill@mrc.ca This PIC has been arranged to allow members of the public to For further information on this project, or to be put on the review the study process, the study need and justification and study mailing list, please contact: