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; j M ! I . ! I > 6 Sports/11 Holy Trinity tour de force Wheels/Insert Toyota revisits Avalon Historic Beacon deal rolls out at GM Project called largest-ever automotive investment in Canada DURHAM -- What is being billed as the biggest automotive investment in Canadian history will be announced simultaneously simultaneously at four locations, including including Oshawa, today. General Motors of Canada and representatives from the federal and provincial governments, governments, including Premier Dalton Dalton McGuinty, are slated to outline a major investment in Oshawa's car plants as part of a $2.5-billion outlay in Canada over five years, dubbed Project Beacon.. Reports yesterday stated GM would spend a lot of the money in Oshawa on a major retooling, retooling, a new paint shop, environmental environmental upgrades, energy- related projects and training at the; Oshawa plants, supported in j}aj;t by almost $400 million in government aid; If as expected GM announces an investment in improving its engineering capabilities, it would be able to produce a vehicle from start to finish -- from the design stage to the completed product -- the first Canadian automaker that could make that boast. As reported previously in This Week, GM of Canada for months has been involved in talks with government officials to secure funding as part of upgrading its Oshawa facilities. GM was also to announce a partnership to promote innova- tion with five Canadian universities, universities, including the University of Ontario Institute of Technology Technology in Oshawa. It would allow UOIT to establish establish an automotive centre of excellence and create the country's country's first automotive engineering engineering bachelor's degree program. UOIT president Gary Polonsky could not be reached for comment comment yesterday. The federal and provincial, governments issued advisories yesterday afternoon concerning the announcement. The federal government's -release stated Minister of Citizenship Citizenship and Immigration Joe Volpe,,standing in for.Industry Minister David Emerson, "will announce Government of Canada Canada support for an innovative General Motors project. ... "The GM investment will represent represent the largest and most comprehensive comprehensive automotive investment investment in Canadian history." General Motors' investment would secure the jobs of thousands thousands of GM plant workers and could create an additional 500 1 jobs. -- Torstar News Service ms i Mr .vd'tf y, 7 m m Walter PassarellavThe Canadian Statesman Carnival in Clarington CLARINGTON -- Grade 4 students Harley Bertik, left, and Kayleigh Bell were among the children at Dr. Ross Tilley Public School's assembly earlier this month, to wrap up the school's Carnival festivities to celebrate achievement in character education. Bowmanville parents push for school addition Waverley • elementary, students need more space, says school council PEGGY FOSTER Staff writer • BOWMANVILLE -- Waverley Waverley Public School started out as a collection of portable classrooms, classrooms, Julie Gaskin, a parent representative of the school council told members of the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board Thursday night. And 28 years later students and staff are still dealing with portable classrooms on a daily basis, she said. • With the much-anticipated accommodation review by the board (looking at the need for more schools in some growing areas and less classroom space in others) expected at the end of March, Waverley Public School sent a delegation of 17 to Peter- , borough to once again make a plea for mortar and bricks. The objective of the presentation presentation was .to have the school, placed on the long-term accommodation accommodation plan to receive an addition within two years, Ms. Gaskin said. In a best-case scenario scenario the addition would need to be large enough to accommodate accommodate 10 more classrooms taking away the need for portables portables at the site. At present, students from junior kindergarten kindergarten to Grade 3 are housed in the school, with students and staff from.. Grade 4 to 8 spending all day, every day in portable classrooms. The Ministry of Education's rated capacity for Waverley Public School is 277.5 students. In 2005 enrolment is 483. With the closing of St. Stephen's Stephen's Catholic Elementary School and increased popu lation for Ross Tilley Public School, parents expect that Waverley Public School will see a further increase in student population next year. Among the deficiencies listed at the school are no computer labs, no water in classrooms, gym use limited to a maximum of 40 minutes two times a week, portables that are not wheel- chair-accessible, inadequate storage space in both school and portable classrooms and the fact teachers with certain backgrounds in physical education, education, drama, computers ,and music don't choose to teach or stay at the school due to its limitations. Ms. Gaskin said the school's close proximity to Hwy. 401 provides what she described as an unnecessary risk. A buddy system used for safety by students who are visiting the washroom means if two students from each portable are outside walking to the portable washroom, there could be as many as 18 students outside and unsupervised at one time. "People cannot believe our students use a portable washroom," washroom," she told the board. "The portable washroom needs to be removed." Trustee Cathy Abraham See OVERCROWDING page 6 Bev Oda speaks out about Liberal budget Durham MP says there's no plan to bring down government BY JENNIFER STONE Staff writer DURHAM. -- The Liberal government's budget doesn't do enough for Durham, but it's not bad enough to bring the minority government down, says Durham MP Bev Oda. "We're not supporting the budget, budget, but don't see reason to cause another election to happen," said Ms. Oda, Durham's Conservative MP, Friday, alluding to the fact that failure of a budget to gain support of the house can trigger a vote of non-confidence against a minority government. If the nonconfidence nonconfidence vote succeeds, an election election is necessary. But, Ms. Oda said she feels Durham constituents don't want the expense of a second election in eight months. The budget failed to deliver immediate relief on a number of. pressing issues for Durham residents, residents, said Ms. Oda. "Many of the steps taken by the Liberals in this,budget do not go far enough or occur fast enough to have a substantial impact on the well-being of residents of Durham," Durham," she said. • For example, Ms. Oda said she's pleased to see ■ the government government Will look at Canadian Canadian Agri- culture Income Stabiliza- tion cash deposit requirent requirent e n t , under which farmers must put down a deposit in order to secure protection in the event of dramatic dramatic income decreases or disaster. The idea of dropping the deposit requirement was actually first raised by the Conservatives, but has been picked up on by the Liberals. However, she said, while the Conservatives wanted action to remove the requirement, the Liberals have only committed to studying the issue. "April is a little late to tell farmers what they're going to do," said Ms. Oda. Bev Oda (y ONTARIO'S • SERVICE • PARTS MON., WED., FRI. *- 7:30 am - 6:00 pm TUES. & THURS. 7:30 am - 8 pm SAT. 9 am - 4 pm ACCREDITED TEST & REPAIR FACILITY WHITBY OSHAWA Honda 300 THICKSON RD. S. WHITBY 666-1772 HONDA www. bond* 1 .com Lion brings snowy start to March A.J. Groen/The Canadian Statesman Debbie and Wayne Cobbledick of Simpson Street in Bowmanville Bowmanville were among the many résidents of Clarington digging digging out Tuesday morning, after a winter storm dumped close to 20 centimeters of snow on the GTÀ. Clarington hit with up to 20 centimetres of the white stuff BY DAVID BUIMENFELD Staff writer DURHAM -- The month of March came in like a lion as a winter storm dumped close to 20 centimetres of snow on Durham Region in just over 24 hours. Uldis Siksna, manager, of maintenance maintenance operations at the Region of Durham, said the works department department juggled staff early Monday afternoon to prepare for the storm. Primary snowplow drivers were sent home by noon in order to be available to work through the night and into Tuesday morning to keep Durham's 36 Regional roads clear for driving. Under the Highway Traffic Act, they can only drive a maximum 13-hour shift. "If we know the storm's not going to be long in duration, we can have the guys max out and then send them home. But for . something like this, where all indications indications are that the storm's going to be more than a day long, we start looking at taking proactive approaches to make sure we've got rested drivers when we need them," Mr. Siksna said Monday. He also said it's been more difficult difficult keeping the roads clear this winter compared to last year. 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