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8 - Orono Weekly Times. Wednesday, June 28. 2000 Staying in Touch by John O'Toole, MPP On Thursday, June 22nd, the most recent session of the Ontario Legislature drew to a close. At this time, it is my understanding that the Legislature will return in late September. While some constituents have suggested that we are now on holidays, my community community office is open for business business and .1 will be meeting with constituents and a variety variety of other stakeholders. We intend to close the office during during the annual two week General Motors"' vacation so that my staff can enjoy a well deserved break. Actually, there will always be someone on hand catching up on correspondence correspondence and filing. Your calls and messages left will be responded to promptly. In case of any emergency, please call our office at 697-1501 or 1-800-661-2433 and leave a message. Each week, I will go to Queen's Park a couple of times to fulfill my duties as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations. We are conducting consultations on the collision repair and insurance industry as well as other consumer protection issues like electronic commerce. commerce. If any person or group wishes to meet with me on a provincial matter, please contact contact my office. Your input is critical and I want to hear from the people in my Durham riding. Laist week, I had three items in the news. First, 1 introduced two Private Member's Bills, one that proposes proposes to allow antique vehicle owners to use an ' antique license plate to register their vehicle. Many car clubs and .vintage .vintage vehicle owners have wanted to use registration plates matching the year of their restored- vehicle. I am interested in hearing, from antique car clubs in favour of this legislation. My second Bill proposes to restrict the use of cellular phones while driving. The legislation encourages the use of a hands free phone device, which can include a voice-activated dialing feature. feature. For some time now, I have been observing what people are doing while' they're driving, like talking on a cell phone, doing their makeup or taking notes. I want to hear from my constituents constituents on these proposed changes as f intend to follow up on these bills in the Fall session. Your input and suggestions suggestions are important and I want to say that it was constituents constituents who brought both ideas to my attention. The final issue in the news was the provincial consultants" consultants" report on MPP salaries. Serving in public office is not a job in the normal sense. We have a serious job appraisal every four or five years and it is called an election This question was brought forward due* to a report made public last week. In 1996, all three parties in the Legislature unanimously passed a Bill getting rid of MPP pensions, eliminating the tax-free portion portion and delivered a five percent percent salary reduction. Also included in the Bill was the provision that the Speaker of the Legislature could, after the budget was balanced, engage an outside independent. independent. consultant, to .bring forward forward recommendations for MPP remuneration. In their study, the three consultants compared our pay to that of the following: *Federal MP ($145,406 annually) Ontario Engineers ($95,301.00) School Principal ($90,560) ^Toronto City Councillor ($82,30.3) * Provincial MPP ($81,907) Amounts marked with an asterisk include all tax-free benefits as well as pension entitlements. It is worth noting noting that your Federal Member of Parliament receives more than a provincial minister and even the Premier of Ontario. It should also be mentioned that federal, and provincial members have the same riding riding boundaries and exactly the same number of constituents. constituents. Have a safe and happy Canada Day, Clarington Fire Calls The Clarington Fire Department responded to the following calls during the period of June 19 to June 26, 2000: 2 property fires; 1 pre- fire condition; 5 false fire calls; 2 public hazard calls, 10 rescues; ' ■ 10 medieal/resuscitator calls and 3 dther responses. ~T-- " 1 subscribe! Clubs & Organizations Bowmanville museum The Bowmanville. Museum, at 37 Silver Street (corner of Wellington and Silver) will be holding their Annual Canada Day Celebrations on July 1st, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The celebrations celebrations will Include: sack races, flags, balloons, BBQ, snow cones, cotton, candy,- face" painting, apple bobbing, magician, musical entertain-. ment, 'Birthday cake, reading tent, Shriner clowns, and a jumping castle. The fun begins with sack races at 11 a.m. The "Down On the Corner Gang" will provide the musical entertainment, entertainment, which will begin at noon with the Flag Raising and singing of "O Canada." Balloons and flags will be handed out and you can get your face painted. Earl Brown, the Magician, will be on hand at 1:30 p.m, to astound the children (and some adults) with his feats of magic. The Reading Tent, which will be featuring Canadian authors, will have story time every hour for a quiet time with the children. Our Looney Raffle will feature feature donations from local business and supporters and a BBQ. (manned by the Kinsmen) will be on-going all afternoon with- pop, snow cones and cotton' candy also available, A Jumping Castle will be set up" to help get rid of all that excess energy and the Shriner Clowns will be • handing out balloon, animals. . A special presentation will be held, at 2:30 p.m, to bury the Museum's Time Capsule . (donated by Melody Homes), which will include a Millennium Scroll, signed by local residents. There will still be time to register your families families names ($1.00 each) on it before it is buried. At the end of the day there will be free birthday cake for everyone. So come early and bring a blanket or chair. For more information please call the Museum office at 623-2734. Bowmanville Toastmasters Bowmanville Toastmasters met for their annual social meeting at the farm of Marilynn Dow on June 20th, 2000. Although it was an informal meeting, the prepared prepared speech program was not neglected: Joan Haring "took home" the Best Speaker Trophy and Denise Marek the Best Evaluator Trophy. The members enjoyed the rural setting and a good time was had by all. Thank you TM Dow for being ' such a gracious host. Area 26 Governor. Rick Farley performed an important important function when 'he released the current club executive from their duties and formally instated the members of th new executive for the dub year 2000/2001. Bowmanville Toastmasters continue to meet on Tuesdays during the stammer months but at a revised schedule as follows: July 11 and July 25; August 8 and August 22. The meetings are held at the Darlington Information Centre of Ontario Power Generation from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. For more information, please call Irene Konzelmann at 983- 9423. Morrison's Hardware celebrates Canada Day with Canadian Flags & Flag Poles 4* All Planters & Flower Pots * Onions & Multiplier Sets, All Wheelbarrows In-Store Specials on... Lawn Chairs 4* Furniture * Trellises *SALE PRICES APPLY TO IN-STOCK ITEMS ONLY MORRISON'S HARDWARE «'5337 Mmn St, Orono » 983-5207 Hours: Fri June 30th, 8-7:30 • Sat July 1st, 8-4 • Sun July 2nd, 9:30-1:30