The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

16 - The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday September 27, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Concerns raised over hospital construction delays Continued from page15 Raitt took the opportunity to show her personal support for the arts by speaking about her husband, David Raitt, who is a comedian. "We live the arts everyday in our house. We are the arts," she said Raitt said the Conservatives are aware of the needs of artists. "The Canadian Council for the Arts received an increase from the Conservative gov- ernment," she said. "Not only did they receive an increase in funding, they also received dedicated funding, which is even more important, knowing that every year, there is going to be dedicated funding for the arts." Collard said the arts are important to her, both as a candidate for the Green Party, as well as a volunteer with the local school board. "I am a big believer in the importance of the arts and because of my passion in edu- Think Green. Breathe Easy. HUGE CENTRAL AIR & FURNACE $ Up to SALE BEST PRICES EVER! 2950* MANUFACTURERS CASH BACK Cash Back cation, I have seen first-hand the difference that the arts make in our children, in their love of life, in their appreciation of their culture and in their vision for the future," she said. "Our children need to have a vision that is full, balanced and warm, and that will lead them to pursue great things. Without the arts, we take that away." While some of the questions were more general, several inquiring minds asked candidates to forgo party jargon and speak directly about what they would do if elected for the region of Halton. One such question came on the issue of health care. An audience member expressed her frustration with the current system in Halton, discussing the lack of family doctors and the delay in the proposed new hospital for Oakville. "What I've learned in the past couple weeks is that with getting a new hospital in the Halton region, we are getting another study, yet again," responded Raitt. "The reason there's another study going on is because there is no money because the Province of Ontario is experiencing a squeeze, as well, and the money is going into the other areas. "Considering the fact that there is not going to be a hospital until at least 2016 and knowing how long it takes a hospital to come online, something has to happen immediately. What needs to happen is very simple. We need to build a coalition of municipal, provincial and federal representatives and make sure we lobby hard to put together the real business plan as to why this has to happen." Turner also agreed that action needs to be taken on the new hospital immediately, but said he did not see the purpose of a coalition. "We don't need another study and we don't need another task force," he said. "The health care system runs on money AND NO PAYMENT! NO INTEREST! FOR 6 MONTHS *OAC HYDRO CASH BACK UP TO UP TO UP TO $1400 + $1000 + $550 GOV. CASH BACK *Call for details. Financing Available 8 Locations To Serve You Better! 905-849-4998 www.aireone.com 1-888-827-2665 Get Your Wheels in Motion out Ask AbParties Birthday Join the Fun Public Skating Bowling Gifts Billiards Video Games Snack Bar alace cooter's Roller P rive S D Windsor 2105 tRoyal Southdown Road) t of wes (jus www.scoot ers.on.ca (905) 823-4001 Need Peace ? Try our "Sanctuary of the Heart" Service Sundays 9:00 am starting Oct. 5 at Munn's United Church Burlington Long Term Care Centre Chaps Restaurant MUNNS UNITED CHURC NITED CHURCH Dundas Hwy. & 6th Line 905-257-8434 www.munnsunited.com To place your business logo or name here, call your Classified Sales Representative today! 905.632.4440 and we need more money. Ontario needs more money coming into the health care system. We need money for doctors, nurses and catastrophic drugs." Collard said the Green Party's solution is fighting for Halton to get its fair share of transfer payments from the government, which is especially needed with the region's rapid growth. "We are seeing an incredible situation in health care, where people can't have a family doctor, where the lineups at hospitals to get necessary treatment are unbelievably long, where people are being sent away from their own hospital to Toronto or Hamilton to receive service, and this has to stop," Collard said. "We need to put money into teaching, we need to get more doctors and more nurses, we need to get them to Halton and we need to get them to Halton now. People are going to start dying if we don't fix this immediately." Another Halton-specific question requested a solution to gridlock, especially along Dundas Street. The question seemed well-suited for the morning. The location of the all-candidates meeting was at a restaurant on Dundas Street West just east of Neyagawa Boulevard, giving those in attendance a front-row seat to the severity of the gridlock on that route. Collard said one solution is increasing the GST to create more funds for solutions like public transit. "The Green Party would invest in improvements to infrastructure by returning the GST to six per cent," she said. "Rural Canadians would be provided with rebates since they do not stand to benefit as much from infrastructure enhancements as urban residents. In addition, we would provide new exemptions on books and children's clothing, which would help Canadians provide their families with the things they need. By returning the GST to six per cent, the average Canadian family will only see a modest increase of about $250 per year in the amount of GST that they pay. Part of this money would go towards public transit, which is vitally important in our cities." Raitt said the problem is not caused by a monetary shortage. Rather, she said, it is about siphoning necessary funds to Halton. She said she has been speaking with other politicians to find a solution. "I have met with Gary Carr on Monday and started talking to him about his priorities and how I can help him if I were elected to get the money to flow to him, I've also had conversations with the Minister of Transportation Jim Bradley here in the province, too, to tell him we have a serious issue on the highways, on the QEW and the GO," said Raitt. Turner said the Liberals are the only party with a tangible answer to infrastructure problems facing towns and cities, especially those in the Halton region. "We are the only party that has announced a 10-year $70 billion infrastructure program, which is going to be financed," he said. "If we form government, there will be lots of money flowing to the Town of Oakville, the Town of Milton and the City of Burlington, going into GO, a permanent gas tax amount going to all the municipalities, because transit is the future. We have to drop our reliance on the private automobile."