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PAGE 6THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, AUGUST 29,2001 <£ Opinions FOR 146 YEARS, OUR FIRST CONCERN HAS BEEN OUR COMMUNITY Publisher - Tim Whittaker Editor-in-Chief - Joanne Burghardt Managing Editor - Judi Bobbitt Advertising Manager - Brian G. Purdy Advertising - Lavernc Morrison, Christian-Ann Goulet Office - Junia llodge, Nancy Pleasance-Sturman Editorial - Brad Kelly, Jennifer Stone, Jacquic Mclnncs ®1je Canadian Statesman Former Publishers and Partners Rev. John M. Climie and W.R. Climie 1854-1878 M.A. James 1878-1935 • Norman S.B. James 1919-1929 G. Elena James, 1929-1947 • Dr. George W. James 1919-1957 John M. James, 1957-1999 Produced by Mctroland Printing, Publishine & Distributing Ltd. Also Publishers of CLAR1NGTON THIS WEEK P.O. Box 190, 62 King St. W., Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K9 TEL: 905-623-3303 FAX: 905-623-6161 HOURS: Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.M. E-mail: newsroom@durhamrcgion.com Publications Mail Registration No. 07637 EDITORIAL e-mail Idlers lit newsroom® (lurUiimrcgion.com Leaks suggest bad times ahead Pessimism at the top a setup to warn us Almost since the day they were elected in October 1993 the federal Liberals have never run across a leak they didn't love. Canadians, until this past decade, had rarely ever heard so much so soon about the finances of their federal government. But the Liberals absolutely love to put the spin on whatever message they're selling to the public and who can argue with their methods: they've won three straight majority governments and don't look to be in any trouble of adding a fourth. Back in the fall of 1993, it was a stunned Paul Martin who revealed to the nation months before his February 1994 inaugural budget that the country was in a deep financial financial chasm. The deficit was worse than we ever expected expected Mr. Martin moaned, preparing the country well for the tough-love, job-slashing budgets he presented in the mid-1990s. Similarly, when we turned the corner and became deficit-free several years ago, hints of the good news to come was made public weeks and months in advance to pump up the polls and spread the cheer well before Mr. Martin delivered the budget. Now, it would seem, we could be heading back to bad times. The economic numbers have not been good; growth has been stalled, inflation has been creeping upward, upward, the dot-com sector has announced loads of layoffs. All of this plays havoc with Mr. Martin's last five-year forecast, delivered in February 2000 which promised a massive $58-billion tax cut. That was announced at about the same time we were licking our chops over surpluses that were singing along in the $15-$30 billion range. Growth rates were staggering then with little on the horizon horizon to offer a negative outlook. But reduced profit means less tax revenue. While Mr. Martin can't take back his tax cut pledge - it would be political suicide to do so and might further hurt the economy economy - the prospects for new spending to fight child poverty, to clean up the environment, to bolster foreign aid are grim. The message out of Ottawa these days is we could be in for some belt-tightening over the next year or so. That's to be expected since a hot economy never lasts forever. The one good sign is that Prime Minister Chretien Chretien and Mr. Martin are absolutely committed to never going into deficit again. We may have to wait a little while for the good times to return but the Liberals would say they have all the time in the world. With no effective opposition to push the process along, they're right. LOOKING BACK WITH THE STATESMAN 75 YEARS AGO Sept. 2, 1926 The Royal Theatre in Bowmanville featured 'The Man in the Saddle,' starring Hoat Gibson. 50 YEARS AGO Aug. 30, 1951 Area residents were invited to shop in Bowmanville and "Bring your children with you... then park them at the Royal Theatre for a free matinee" each Thursday afternoon. afternoon. The matinee was paid for by a number of local businesses. businesses. 25 YEARS AGO Sept. 1,1976 Clarke High School was set to open on schedule, in spile of construction delays on a new addition and renovations renovations to the school's older building. But students would have to pack a lunch, since construction on the cafeteria was not complete. Information taken from the archives of The Canadian Statesman www.dolIghan.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR e-mail Idlers to newsroom® (lurhamrcgion.com Rethink 407 extension To the editor: I want to correct several misconceptions misconceptions about the completion completion of the 407 through Claring- ton: 1. It's a "done deal" because all the land for the 407 right-of- way has already been purchased. Regional Councillor Rick Johnston Johnston has stated no land east of Brock Road has yet^been purchased purchased for the 407. 1 2. Volume of traffic necessitates necessitates connecting the 407 with 35/115.1 have driven 35/115 frequently frequently including Friday at 6 p.m. at the start of a long weekend. weekend. I have never encountered a significant slowdown in traffic. Question: for whom is the 407 being built through Clarington? 3. The 401 has reached its capacity capacity and therefore the 407 is needed. Rush hour bottlenecks on 401 around Oshawa and Ajax occur because the widening of 401 ran into problems at the bridges in Ajax and in Oshawa. A solution must be found that will not involve destroying hundreds of acres of the best farmland in Ontario. . I suggest completing the widening of Taunton Road all the way to 35/115, also the planned widening of Hwy 7. Solve the problem of the Ajax and Oshawa bridges by routing eastbound traffic along Baseline Road and westbound on the existing 401. Conlin Road could also carry traffic'around Oshawa. Better we reorganize existing roads than destroy streams, wetlands, farmland farmland and wildlife habitat. There is a provincially significant significant wetland east of Oshawa where some genius at Queen's Park decided to build a link between between Hwy. 401 and Hwy. 407. This wetland has been persistently persistently eroded by new subdivisions, often without any setbacks from streams. What remains will be destroyed by the 407 link and its biodiversity, which helps control global warming, will be lost forever. forever. Climate change is a vital reason reason to protect our existing farmland. farmland. Canada gets its food supplies supplies from all over the world, but in case these sources of food dry up in the future, it would be smart to work towards greater independence. independence. Paving farmland for a highway is not how you do this. The 407 was planned in the 1950s when little was known about ecosystems or greenhouse gases. Some minor bureaucrat probably sat in a Toronto office with a map and drew a line around the north of Toronto to ease traffic congestion. Then he or she looked east for a place to end it and, (tara!) found the 35/115. The lines were joined and the misconceived 407 was bom. No one, until today, has ever seriously questioned it. Jessica Markland Bowmanville Best opposition in Ontario history? I'd suggest the NDP of 1963-67 Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty says his will be Ontario's best- ever opposition party - so which was the best and whose mark does he have to beat? Those who were around at that time would find it hard not to pick the New Democratic Party led by Donald C. MacDonald between between 1963 and 1967. This may sound odd because the NDP elected only seven MPPs in 1963 and added an eighth in a byelection a year later. Throughout that span it was outnumbered outnumbered by the Liberal official opposition 3-1. Three of its MPPs also were what are commonly called good constituency members, those who look after their ridings well but have no talent for the parliamentary parliamentary cut and thrust needed to embarrass a government. Therefore, Therefore, this burden was thrown on an even fewer number. Those few obviously had exceptional exceptional abilities. Mr. MacDonald MacDonald was an all-round competent, dogged and tireless debater, the most underrated party leader of recent times. His strengths in- . eluded knowing, because he had to know, more about a broader range of government activities than anyone in any party. For one thing he had led the NDP when it had only three MPPs and he was its official spokesman on 20 of 22 ministries, ministries, so having seven MPPs was a luxury. He represented a Toronto riding with scarcely a blade of grass, but became so respected respected a critic on agriculture he started winning farm votes. Stephen Lewis was then in his mid-twenties and was the legislature's legislature's most brilliant orator in the past half-century. He is now the United Nations' special envoy on AIDS and turns the intellectual level up several notches every time lie speaks in that role. Back in the 1960s, Mr. Lewis Eric Dowd At Queen s Park added charisma to a party known more for slogging and made the Tory government's life miserable with his verbal dexterity. When Mr. Lewis finished his maiden speech, Progressive Conservative Conservative premier John Robarts conceded generously and perhaps perhaps enviously "something new has been added to this legislature today," and an awestruck welfare minister Louis Cecile admitted he could "not even think of competing competing in ability to use the English English language." Jim Renwick, a former corporation corporation lawyer who turned his back on business and gave the NDP huge authority on legal issues; issues; Ken Bryden, only slightly in their shade and a professor who was top of the class in tackling tackling almost any topic; and Fred Young a United Church minister who put the fight for government auto insurance among the party's commandments, made an almost unsurpassed front line. The NDP could spot issues that appealed to the public and fought for them with zest backed by information. It pointed to lack of safety measures at work, paltry paltry welfare services, callousness in nursing homes, ciuclty in jails and reform schools and failure to replant forests left wastelands in the north. Mr. Lewis argued the Tories "arc incapable of keeping pace with the demands of contemporary contemporary society," and when they responded responded to criticisms by knocking knocking 11 cents off a case of 24 beer in the north, and he scoffed "you cannot buy the north, gentlemen, for a fistful of hops." The NDP broke new ground. It started the first real campaign in the legislature for equal treatment treatment at work and later pay equity equity for women and urged the Province to ban imports of wines from a South Africa practising apartheid, eventually done only when a Liberal government came in two decades later. The NDP with the financial restrictions of being so small had no media officer and Mr. MacDonald MacDonald made up for it by becoming becoming the only party leader ever to deliver his news releases personally personally to reporters, which gave him an advantage in that they could ask him questions and he could spin the answers his way. Premier Robarts, whenever Liberals looked challenging, pointed across at the NDP and growled "we know who the real enemy is," which was meant to undercut the Liberals but still carried carried some grain of truth. The NDP efforts bore some fruit. In the 1967 election it jumped to 20 seats, but brought in troublemakers like Morton Shulman, who exposed Tory defects defects but hurt his own party with his errors, and John Brown, a social social worker prickly even with friends and eventually jailed for defrauding the government. Mr. Lewis also pushed out Mr. MacDonald as leader. Mr. MacDonald warned Mr. Lewis might scare electors which lie did. The NDP then dropped back slightly in the next election. But there are lessons for Mr. McGuinty, who should recognize he is far ahead in polls more because because the Tories made mistakes than because of his own party's performance. Current NDP leader Howard Hampton, who has only eight MPPs, at least might feel consoled numbers arc not always everything. Mike Johnston Staff Editor Tories should scrap ad campaign The start of the school year is just around the corner and that means it's time for another episode of every parent's favourite TV show, the Hatfields Hatfields and the McCoys, known more around these here parts as the Tories vs. the teachers' unions. In what can only be described as a major - take that! - move, the Ontario Ontario Tories plan to spend $6 million on ads to inform us about their plans for teacher testing and changes to the education system. Hello, McFly, who hasn't heard about all the changes this government government has made to education? Those of us with kids in the system know first-hand about the new curriculum and testing, while even taxpayers who don't have kids in the school system are aware of all the changes. Just pick up any newspaper. Education Minister Janet Ecker is a smart politician. She should know better than to announce a $6-million propaganda campaign just as kids are returning to school and unions are fighting a mandatory test program program that would see them be tested and recertified every five years. She should have known critics would jump all over the price and argue the $6 million would pay for 120,000 textbooks, hdp-the backlog of education assistants for special- education students or hire more librarians. librarians. The minister should have realized the only thing parents want to hear this fall are the great stories their children have to tell about school and not another start to another war between Tories and the union. There may have been a feeling among many parents four years ago that it was time a strong government stood up to the teachers' unions but from the many parents I have spoken to, that time has long since passed. What parents want now is a good education for their kids with a strong school system which will help their child to develop good self esteem and a sense of wanting to know more. Extra curriculars play a big part in that development as do good teachers, up-to-date books and computers, computers, extra help when needed and a sense of wanting to get up each morning to go to school. What parents don't want is more rhetoric from both sides about how the other is failing the student and 'No, it's not my fault.' The Tories should scrap the propaganda propaganda and put the $6 million into purchasing new books which should be distributed fairly across the province. That's an expenditure every parent parent would support. 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