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2 - Orono Weekly Times Subscriptions $38.09 + $1.91 GST = $40.00 per year. No Refunds. Publishing 48 issues annually at the office of publication. "We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) toward our mailing costs." Wednesday, February 3, 2010 ORONO WEEKLY TIMES - 5310 Main St., P.O. Box 209, Orono, ON L0B 1M0 E-mail: oronotimes@rogers.com or Phone/Fax: 905-983-5301 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart Production and Display Advertising - Roxanne Johnston Classified Advertising - Sue Weigand The Orono Weekly Times welcomes letters to the editor on subjects of interest to our readers. Opinions expressed to the editor and articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Orono Weekly times. Letters must be signed and contain the address and phone number of the writer. Any letter considered unsuitable will not be acknowledged or returned. We reserve the right to edit for length, libel and slander. If your retail or classified ad appears for the first time, please check carefully. Notice of an error must be given before the next issue goes to print. The Orono Weekly Times will not be responsible for the loss or damage of such items. Councillors: two minutes for ditching arena report In many circles it would be safe to say hockey is our religion. If not a religion, it is definitely our national passion. Many defining moments in our nation's recent history are related to the sport of hockey. Who doesn't remember how proud we were to be Canadian when Paul Henderson scored the winning goal against the Russians in the 1972 Summit Series. Another poignant memory was when the 2002 Women's Olympic Hockey Team brought home the gold by defeating the US team on their home ice in Salt Lake City. Last Saturday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired 13 hours of hockey programming across the nation, in its tenth annual Hockey Day in Canada broadcast. This is a day set aside to celebrate the sport of hockey across the nation. In many Canadian households, winter is a time spent driving kids to the local rink for hockey practices and games, where mom and dad and grandparents sit in the cold stands drinking Tim Horton's coffee from paper cups. The hub of activity in every community of any size during the winter months, from early in the morning until late at night, is the local ice rink. The allocation of ice-time in many community arenas is challenging, as the demand often exceeds availability. Right on cue, this past December, the Newcastle Minor Hockey Association appeared before Clarington Council, and told them that Newcastle needs another ice facility. The recreation wave that defined the previous Clarington Council stopped short of building a twin-pad ice arena in Newcastle. The council of the day did commission a study of the recreation facility needs for the village of Newcastle, which was published in June 2005. According to the report, the Newcastle Memorial Arena is an older facility that is in relatively poor condition and does not provide a similar level of service compared to other facilities in the municipality. The report also predicted that significant increases in ice-demand in the village of Newcastle were not expected until 2010. That report recommended that a new twin-pad ice arena be built in Newcastle. A new aquatic facility, according to the report, would not be required in Newcastle until sometime after 2016. Nonetheless, it opened in the fall of 2008. On December 14, 2009, Kythe Baldwin, the Ice Convenor for Newcastle Minor Hockey Association, appeared before Council. He told councillors there are currently 318 children enrolled in minor hockey in Newcastle. According to Baldwin, the Association requires 46 hours of ice-time per week in order to provide a game and a practice for its teams each week. Due to the constraints on the ice-time available in the Newcastle Memorial Arena, the Minor Hockey Association was allocated only 34 hours of ice-time per week for the 2009/10 season. It should come as no surprise to at least half of the current Council, that there is a shortage of available ice-time at the Newcastle Memorial Arena. Councillors Charlie Trim, Gord Robinson and Adrian Foster were on the previous council, which opted to ignore the recommendations of the 2005 Recreation Facility Needs Study they commissioned and paid for. They chose to build an indoor pool instead. Did they think the demand for ice-time would disappear by building a pool? As Council continues to approve more housing developments for the village, demand on the single ice surface in the local arena is only going to increase. With the $34-million Municipal debt created largely by the recreation wave of the previous administration, there is now no political appetite to add another recreation facility to Clarington. In the fall, the Municipality cut the hours of operation at the Newcastle and District Recreation Facility on Rudell Road, which includes the indoor pool, because pool use did not meet expectations. So, as predicted in the Recreation Facility Needs Study report, the aquatic facility is under-utilized, and the arena cannot keep up with the demand for ice-time. It was a purely political decision made by the pervious council to build an indoor pool in Newcastle rather than another ice rink. As long as we allow politicians to get away with making bad decisions, they will continue to do so. Letters to the Editor Thank You! Thank You! RE: "Orono Public School gets in the anti-bullying spirit," Orono Times, Jan. 20. Dear Editor: Thank you so much for the exceptional article you wrote about our school. You are an amazing advocate for this village and you have truly made us shine on so many occasions. We are fortunate to have you supporting us and providing us with the incredible positive public relations. I will be sending the article to my Superintendent. We try so hard to get the message out there of what we are doing to make Orono PS an even better place to be. Thank you so much. Darla Sells Principal, Orono Public School Staying in Touch MPP John O'Toole Budget Talks are Priority at Queen's Park This week, I will be attending provincial budget consultations that continue in Toronto February 1 - 3. Last week, the Select Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs travelled to Niagara Falls, London, Dryden, North Bay and Kingston. The Committee heard from a wide cross section of Ontario citizens, including students, seniors, farmers, small business, manufacturers, retailers, municipalities, healthcare organizations and charities. In my view, there is considerable interest in the budget preparations because Ontario's economy is uppermost on the minds of all taxpayers. Here are a few facts about Ontario's finances that must be considered: There are continuing strong demands for funding of healthcare, education, and other Ontario priorities. Since 2003, provincial debt has grown to a staggering $65 billion. During that same time, government spending has increased by 65%, but the Ontario economy has grown by no more than 5.7 per cent. The Official Opposition has outlined many priorities that would help get Ontario back on track. Three of these include: Tax relief targeted at job creation and helping Ontario families and seniors who are likely to be hit hardest by the Harmonized Sales Tax; Capping spending this year to the levels targeted in the most recent budget; And a reduction of red tape through the reinstatement of the Red Tape Commission. O'TOOLE see page 10