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Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday, February 16, 2000 - 7 GRCA looking for comments Approximately 50 people, including Siegfried Block and Gerry Gibson, braved last Thursday evening's snow fall, to attend the public meeting on the watershed study of the Wilmot Creek. The study, being conducted by the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority, is looking for public input and involvement involvement in order to develop a vision for the watershed. Thursday's Public Meeting, the first in this study, was held at The Finds Senior Public School. Staying in by John O'Toole, MPP This week, hearings on the . Gas Hotline at 1-800-268- gas price issue will open in 1142. As always, you can Toronto. The Ontario Gas also call my constituency Prices Review Task Force has office at 697-1501 or 1-800- receiyed over 3,000 telephone 662-2433 if you require more messages and a number of let- information on this or any ters outlining people's views. other issue. The Task Force has sched- Over the next few weeks, 1 uled hearings across Ontario. will be extraordinarily busy. Some of 'the presenters we In my duties as Parliamentary will hear from include the Assistant to the Minister of Canadian Petroleum Products Consumer and Commercial Institute, Federal Members of Relations, 1 will be the Parliament, executives from, Minister's representative on the petroleum industry, the two legislative initiatives, thé Independent Retail Gas • first of which will be Bill 37 - Marketing Association, the The •Collection Agencies Act, Canadian Automobile which is being amended to Association, the Canadian allow foreign investment. Federation of Independent From all accounts, this Business, and the Ontario 1 small amendment will, if Trucking Association. We passed, create between 250 expect to hear many criti- and 400 new jobs in the col- cisms, but hopefully construe- lection agency and call centre five suggestions as well. business field. On a per capita basis, we The second piece of legis- are amongst the largest con- lation is Bill 33, an Act to sumers of petroleum products regulate franchise agree- in the world. Ontario con- merits. This legislation has sumers purchase more than 14 been reviewed by the last twp billion litres of gasoline per governments but has failed to year, or approximately 40 become law. At the same million litres of gas everyday. time, as we all know, most This breaks down to an annu- small businesses are franchise al figure of over a thousand operations. Everything from litres of gas for every man McDonald's, tourism agen- woman and child. To voice cies, grocery stores, coffee your opinions, please call the shops, furniture and appliance Touch stores are franchised. Individual investors who wish to become franchisees oftentimes oftentimes have to deal with very large and complex franchisers (parent companies). We are attempting to balance balance the playing field. Over the past number of years the old legislation has failed to keep pace with today's complex complex legal contracts. Many small business franchise operators operators have told me in confidence confidence that they are reluctant to come forward for fear of reprisal. It is important to remember that many reputable reputable franchisers have been tarnished by the poor business practices of a select few. This legislation attempts to ensure full and fair disclosure by the franchiser. The Bill provides a statutory duty of fair dealing on each party to the franchise agreement. The Act also provides the right of individual franchisees to associate. associate. There will also be rights and responsibilities with consequences consequences for failure to com- ply. As I said last week, the Finance and Economic Development Committee is also gathering input from . across the province for Minister Eves' spring budget. The federal budget will be brought down on February 28th, thus setting the stage for the provincial spring budget. SUBSCRIBE TO THE ORONO WEEKLY TIMES Durham & York farm news APPROPRIATE TASKS FOR FARM CHILDREN For the first time, farm parents are being offered a unique resource to assist them in assigning farm tasks to children ages 7 - 16. The North American Guidelines for Children's Agricultural Tasks (NAGCAT) offers 62 guidelines to help farm children children safely perform routine farm tasks. Farming is the most hazardous hazardous occupation in both Canada and the United States, according to "Farm Fatalities in Canada, 1990- 1996," a study presented by the Canadian Agricultural Injury Surveillance Program (CAISP). Farmers face the' unique challenge of raising their children amid a potentially potentially hazardous work place. Each year in Canada, 116 people are killed and another another 1727 are seriously injured as a result of incidents involving agricultural machinery, livestock, falls or other events. Children younger than 16 years of age are victims of up to 20 per cent of all farm fatalities in both Canada and the U.S. One-third to one-half of non- fatal childhood farm injuries happen to children Who do not live on farms. "Farm parents need to be good role models for their children by teaching them that the safe way is the only way," said Bruce Johnston, Manager of the Farm and Ranch Safety and Health Association (FARSHA) in British Columbia, and member member of the NAGCAT advisory team. "Most parents are searching for answers as to how they can reduce the risk of injury or death to their children. A little time spent evaluating children before assigning tasks may end up saving their lives." The Guidelines are designed to assist parents in evaluating a child's mental, physical and cognitive readiness readiness to help ensure the safe and successful completion of common farm tasks. The Guidelines are divided into seven categories of routine tasks including: animal care, manual labour, haying operations, operations, implement opera- ions. specialty production, tractor fundamentals and general activities. Two types of resources are available with versions for parents and professionals. The parent materials are presented presented in fully Illustrated calendar-like calendar-like formats. The design encourages parents to post the Guidelines at various various locations around the farm where the related activity activity commonly takes place. Each Guiddine presents an illustration of the task; a list of adult responsibilities ; a checklist to assess a child's mental, physical, and psychosocial psychosocial abilities to conduct the job; the important steps necessary to do the job safely; safely; identifies the key hazards of the task; and, the type of supervision recommended. It concludes with a brief explanation explanation about why the child would be at risk performing the task. For more information or to order your Guideline contact Steve Zronik, Public Relations Co-ordinator, Ontario . Farm Safety Association at (519) 823- 5600. ♦♦♦ Corner of Taunton Rd. E. & Bethesda Rd., Bownfianville, Ontario • 263-2293 Pro Shop S Snack Bar Open Satnrdays/SundaysJOam - 4pm • Blouses $5®® • Gloves HI®® • Shoes up • Bags $59^** up • Junior golf clubs ^99®** iece mens/ladies sets f mm $19995