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6, Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday, February 2, 1983 The 1983 Durham East Literal executive The Durham East Bowmanville with the Liberals held their annual above being elected to of- mecting .and election of fice headed by Lorna officers for 1983 last Davey, president. Wednesday evening in Herb Epp, guest speaker, discussed to some length the controversy over Trust Companies and stated that the liberal leader, Peterson, was call ed for an enquiry into the matter hopeful that such would result in tighter controls over Trust Companies Companies in the future. Twinned with Durham East Herb Epp, M.P. tor Waterloo North is twinn ed with the Durham East riding and provides liaison between the liberal riding Woods, Water, and Wildlife By: Ron Reid, Federation of Ontario Naturalists The state of relations with Ontario's Indian community in recent years has been characterized by hostility, with confrontations over the new Constitution, land claims, and Indian nationhood. nationhood. But with a draft association and the Ontario Ontario Liberals. Epp was the guest speaker at the annual meeting held last week in Indian fishing agreement signed by Natural Resources Minister Alan Pope and the . Ontario Chiefs just before Christmas, the first steps towards renewed cooperation cooperation have been taken. Unfortunately, those steps are in danger* because of a backlash that smacks of misundèrstanding and racism. Bowmanville. Epp goes over the program for the evening with Lorna Davey, president of the Durham East Liberals. The agreement gives first priority to conservation, and allows the Minister to limit any Indian fishing for stocks that; are in danger. It also recognizes that local Indian fishing is a very Important food source for native communities, communities, and allows this traditional fishing to continue continue without the usual restrictions for ■ anglers. However, the Indians have agreed that they will live by the same rules as whites for any commercial fishing, operations, where fish are sold. Twenty new Indian conservation conservation officers will be hired for enforcement. Ontario "sportsmen" have,' màde much of the Indians' ability to fish anywhere anytime for food, conveniently conveniently ignoring the fact that this right was granted to them both by their original treaties and by recognition of their special status under the Constitution. Constitution. , Furthermore, the Indians have agreed to respect .fish sanctuaries declared by the Minuter, and any special limits established for conservation. Local Indian Indian bands will also be involved involved in establishing rales for their own harvest to ensure ensure that the fishery can be sustained. The other contentious point has been the provisions to establish exclusive zones on 40-50 Ontario lakes where only Indian fishing would be allowed. However, the Minister has promised that these zones will not affect areas with intensive sports use, or any existing commercial commercial or tourist businesses. The fishing agreement still has many steps to go before it can be Implemented, and even then it will only be a temporary solution until the Indian claims are settled. But it is a beginning, and a significant step towards a more co-operative approach to the very real problems of Ontario Indians. Surely in a , . province, as large and wealthy as Ontario, we can .find thé generosity of spirit to accept an agreement that will. guarantee the most basic rights and the opportunity lor building, economic self- reliance that our Indian communities communities so desperately need. "A Better Deal" for Ontario Indians "Davis government in trouble", Epp Herb Epp, MPP for Waterloo North, who has been twinned with the Durham East Liberal Riding Association was the guest speaker at the annual meeting of the Durham East Liberals last Wednesday evening. Épp said the past year had been an eventful year for Ontario Ontario in many ways. He said , the provincial budget had been a disappointment to the liberals but due to pressure from the liberals the budget, for the first time in the history of the province, was referred to a committee. He said the Conservatives are out of touch and are not aware of the pressures of the day. The speakers also said the - liberals had submitted nineteen nineteen amendments to the provincial provincial restraint program in am effort to create jobs with money saved through the program. In speaking of Ontario Hydro Epp said forty percent of Hydro customer charges were now going to pay interest interest on the heavy debt accumulated accumulated by Hydro. The average base salary he said was over $31,000 while 1,500 hydro employees were now •being paid Over $50,000 annually. annually. In referring to Suncor the speaker stated that the Ontario government had lost over $53 million in the first nine months of its part ownership. Epp did say there were a •* few bright spots with the Conservative government in Ontario in that there are to be needed changes in the educational educational system and the government government has announced to Stil off 68,000 aerps of land which , they have purchased over the years and never used. He further further mentioned the sale of the $10 million Premier's jet. : The speaker spend considerable considerable time in discussing the pyramiding price of the 11,000 Cadillac apartments and the take over of Crown Trust. He said the government was so behind the time in this matter that Bob Elgie's representatives were calling on the Liberal researchers for information. Epp said the government should have known what was going on as the purchases had to be registered. Epp also tore in the Conservatives Conservatives in that some similar examples had happened a couple of years ago m which citizens lost sizeable sums of monies through failing trust companies. He said the government had set up a committee to investigate these happenings but then closed out the investigations for no apparent reason. The speaker said the Liberal leader, Peterson, was calling for a public enquiry which would result in controls controls being instituted to .protect .protect investors in such as Trust Companies. The provmcal government, said Epp, has not been monitoring Trust Companies as they should and this has led to abuses. The government government has a lot to answer to in this matter, he said. Epp called upon his audience audience to become more concerned concerned over provincial politics. He said all too often all attention is focused on the federal government. He stated that the provincial and local municipal government spend 64 percent of all tax monies and are responsible, to a great degree, for the day to day functions required by the citizens of the country. "We must maintain our own enthusiasm and pass it along to others," he said. Highway 401, the superhighway that slices across Southern Ontario from Windsor to Quebec, celebrated its 35th birthday recently. I didn'tiknow that it was such a famous highway until i started to .poke into its past. Did you know that Highway 401 is thought to be the longest freeway in the world? jAnd at Bathurst Street its 16 lanes likely makq.it 'the widest in the world? Over 300,000 cars pass that area in a single day or a summer weekend. That could be^ariother world record! Orv Harron of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications Communications watched the highvvay grow. He was a young office boy the'year they started it. Orv says that building the first stretch of 16 miles from Oshawa to Scarborough was a real headache. Nobody wanted it. City people said it was useless stuck "away up north." Farmers wielding pitchforks chased the first survey crews off their land. It wasn't even galled 401 until 5 ydbrs later when it had grown to what was considered a whopping 35 miles. Brit 20 yearé and 425 million dollars later it had scooted 510 miles across the province. "If this highway hgd been built in the United States," says Orv, "it would be known throughout the world as an unsurpassed 1 engineering marvel. It's probably broken all kinds of records. But we Canadians don't like to blow our own horns." I was taking one of my frequent trips along the freeway on its anniversary. There wasn't much point in wishing it a Happy Birthday. After all, to the 401 it was just another day to be cursed, banged, bashed, torn up, and run over. , > Such is the price of fame. ,