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6-Oýrono -Weely TFîmes,, Wýednesda-y.Febýrar ý17.199ý9 - .- ____________________________ Staying in Touch by John O'Toole, MPP This week I was pleased to be invited to two local schools. The grade five class at Orono Public School was very up to date on the issues and asked some very imaginative ques- tions. They will be conducting a mock election in the next part of their curriculum; perhaps they know something about the pending provincial election. Recently the Minister of Education announced a couple of items that we are consulting on to improve school safety and safe arrivals. The Minister rec- ognizes that many school boards already have policies in place, however, many do not. I was interested to note that our local board has reported in the press that they have such proce- dures in place. Statistics released recently indicate that from 1986 to 1997, the number of violent offence charges against youth increased by 134%. In 1996/7 Ontario schools reported 2,514 inci- dents of physical assault caus- ing injury to students and teach- ers. Clearly the province must respond to this situation. Drugs and violence have no place in our schools. The province is consulting with specialists in this field. If you wish to express your views, contact my office or write directly to: Dr. Irene MacDonald, Project Manager, Making our Schools Safer Initiative, 900 Bay Street, Mowat Block, 12th Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M7A 1L2. On the second issue of safe arrivals, I am also pleased to read that our local boards already have a policy in place. However, a recent coroner's inquest recommended that all schools have such a policy. Each of us must be confident in knowing that our students arrive safely to and from school, and that they are safe while they are at school. The recent discussion on respect and responsibility in our education system is long over due. The 3 "R's" will now become the 5 R's. This past week I attended the founding meeting of an Orono ratepayer's group. The organizer, Rev. Mervyn Russell along with councillors Charlie Trim and John Mutton, and Willie Woo from the very suc- cessful Newcastle Ratepayer's Association were in attendance. There were a good number of citizens in attendance and most people had an opportunity to express their views. Grass root organizations are very impor- tant and I am supportive of tiis kind of process. I am always eager to hear what my con- stituents are thinking about. As was mentioned at the meeting, communications, knowledge and united action are essential for any organization. I need to Durham region plans to control ambulance service hear the views of my con- stituents and these forums are an excellent venue to gather input. I might add that small communities are often healthy because of church organiza- tions, business and service clubs as well as our local news- papers. Our Federal M.P., Alex Shepherd had a very interesting article in the local paper last week. He was addressing the February 16th budget and health care issues. Naturally we all expect the federal govern- ment to give back some of the $6.8 billion they took from health care. Our MP, Alex Shepherd said, "the bottom line is we are not getting our mon- ey's worth in health care". It is important to point out that Canada is the second highest spender in health care in the world and Ontario is the top in Canada. We all defend our health care system; however, it is far from free. The 1996 Fraser Report states that 21% of every dollar earned by Canadians went to pay Canada's health care bill. In 1995, over 37% of our health care spend- ing went towards individuals over 65 years of age. With the baby boomers, by the year 2025, 50% of our spending will go toward this group. To keep pace, we will have to increase taxes by over 30%. As you can see, there are plenty of pres- sures to make our health care system in Canada, more afford- able. The report stated, ""one pos- sible explanation for Ontario's superior performance is that Ontario simply spends more money on health care than the other provinces and this enables it to respond more fully to the demands of patients than is pos- sible in other provinces". Clearly no one is happy when anyone bas to wait. Certainly our MP makes a good point and perhaps that is why Ontario is reforming the delivery of health care in Ontario so the system will be there in the future. Beginning next January, ambulance service will be operated by Durham Region. The plan was approved by the health and finance com- mittees and will replace the other ambulance services already available in the region. Up-grades to ambulances have been neglected the last couple of years, but Durham regional chair, Roger Anderson, wants to change that. 16 out of 170 current ambulance workers in the area have life support train- ing. By up-grading the ambulance system, at least one paramedic will be on every ambulance dispatched. Durham has until the end of August to inform the province of how it wants to operate the ambulance ser- vice. The cost of having an ambulance service operated by Durham will be about 10.4 million dollars next year. The regions payment for the service began in 1998 on January 1, but the province has and will con- trolled the operation of it untilJanuary 1, 2000. Hopes of preventing pri- vately owned, expensive ambulance services are high. With the introduction of a better ambulance service in Durham Region, residents will have a safer, more reli- able ambulance service pro- vided from our health care system. Hospitals in Durham are pleased by ambulance service operated by the region. With the introduction of an ambulance service to be controlled and operated with- in its boundaries, Durham Region hopes to put the pub- lic's faith back into the heath care system. RECYCLE IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE IN THE ORONO WEEKLY TIMES Give us a call at 983-5301 JOSEPH B. MAHONEY Chartered Accountant Accounting • Auditing •Bookkeeping Personal & Corporate Tax Return Preparation Financial Planning • Computer Services Tel: (905) 983-5397 38 Mill Street Fax: (905) 983-5378 Orono, ON LOB IMO email: mahoney@netrover.com -ýRe sstaurant inc. $1 or È; l p I [tax not included) Licenced Under L. L. B,0.Offer Expires Morch 31 st 983-9291 VISA 5294 Main Street, Orono -EATIN OR TAKE OUT- Closed Tuesday •-Monday-Thursday11 a.m. -1p.m. Friday11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Saturday 3 p.m. - il p.m. •Sunday 3 p.m. - 10 a. IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE IN THE ORONO WEEKLY TIMES 983-5301