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Oroxi. Weely Times, Wednesday, AprIl 13, 1994 -3) Vterans with the Orono Skating Club ilorses In Great Numbers What it is all about you'îl have to come out to the Orono Town Hall to sec and hear. Some music, some recitation of poems and candidhoughts by Bernie Martin of Kendal. The Hall has been booked for Sunday evening, May lst with the event starting at 7:30 p.m. In ~ekn ihBmew learn that he has a selection of poems relating to bis visit to Guatemala as well as some rccent poemns written for a play he now bas in rehearsal. Other poemns relate to events mn South Africa. Bernie states that if the event was being staged in Russia there would be a great attendance and that such events held at Harbourfront in Toronto also are well supported. "Well see how it goes in Orono! " *A1 These three members of the Orono Figure Skating Club have been members of the Club for over 12 years and were recognized at the carnival on Saturday for the part they have Melissa Colville was made by played in the club successes over Brian Colville. AIl are residents the years. of Orono and area. The presentation to Ailan McKenzie, Allison Cochrane and SHOP AROUND, GEl YOUR BEST PRICE THEN CALL US FOR YOUR BETTER PRICE We use the full 7% G.S.T. Credit to give you the maximum $$$ for your Trade-in. Toil Free from Area Codes 905, 416 or 705 at 1-800-361-8154 or local calis 885-8154 A I, 4ýI A PII:OYI~I]~NT~I I I[l- de i~~.. e.'ý R HPsi QueenPark Report from Gord Milis, MPP Durham East Last week, 1 once again eamned the wrath of local newspaper columnist over Employment Equity, and this time round, the court officers, some of whomn are WWII veterans, who will lose their jobs because they areover the age of 65 and the province bas the legal right to terminate their contracts. The column concludes by asking if 1, being over the age of 65, and a former miitary maxn, will approve of the governments decision, or wîll I protest such discrimination. Lastly, I have been told by the colummist, that if 1 toe the party une on this mauter I should resign, or be fired to help achieve employment equîty at Queen's Park. When I read the newspaper reports that older workers including war veterans were being forced to retire, I was very upset! After ail, didn't the Premier appoint me as Chair of a Committee of Parliamentary Assistants to be responsible for Veteran's Affairs in Ontario? And nobody told me about these actions! I was even more upset to read that our government was alleged to be forcing war veterans off the government payroll to make rocim for visible minorities! This isn't my vision of faimess. How could this be allowed to happen was my instant thought. I immediately called the Headquarters of the Canadian Corj-,, of Commissioners, who tr..,-,nally have been responsible for the placement of ex-servicemen and veterans at government offices and courts. I was told that the issue had notbing to do with their organization or their Commissionairs. I then called the Ministers office to find out what was going on., And what 1I larned was that, once again, the Toronto Suns reporter had done a hatchet job on the government by distorting the facts to fit their prejudices and thereby alarmed and upset a lot of people. And, unfortunately, other news media have picked up the story without checking the facts and the misinformation is being spread by some journalists who I consider, unprofessionally accep ted such reports without going to the trouble of finding out the truth. Let me say that employment equity had nothing to do with the decision. Under the Public Service Act there are various categories of government employees. Most are called "classified" employees and the rules have long'been that there is a maridatory reûrement age of 65 for ail classified employees. A decision was made that it was not fair that the same rules that applied to the classified employees were not applied to the non-classified employees. The new policy is to bc phased in over two years. Employees over the age of 75 will have their contracts continued until June 3Oth, 1994. Employees between the ages of 70 and 75 wîll have contracts renewed to March 3 lst, 1995. Employees between 65 and 70 will have their contracts renewed to March 3 Ist, 1996. 1 think it easy to see that no one is suddenly firing a bunch of war veterans to make way for employment equity hiring. In fact it is another distortion to describe these older workers as a group of war veterans at all. If you took any group of men in the upper age limits you would find that some would be veterans, including those court workers. But they are not ahl veterans. I have attempted to find out how many of the 90 men are in fact war veterans. The best I have <Continued Page 5) Tear into your biggest Iawn and garden chores with the John Deere GT262. It features a gutsy 6-speed heavy-duty transaxie, 48-inch mowing deck and dependable internai wet-disk brakes for increased reliability. And the John Deere's Quik-Tatch' system for fast implement changes. The GT262 is one tough tractor that's easy to buy. See it today. (* it $1779.00 din payment) NOTHING RUNS LIKE A DEERE. FAKM &GARDEN LTD. i JOHIN DEERE, SALES- &5eSER VICE Taunton Road, West of Orono Phone 983-9119 c .......... --l r- m