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2 - Orono Weekly Times Wednesday, August 30,2006 Subscriptions S33.02 + $1.98 GST = $35.00 per year." Publications Mail Registration No. 09301 • Agreement No. 40012366 Publishing 48 issues annually at the office of publication. 'We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP) toward our mailing costs." Canada Aocna ORONO WEEKLY TIMES - 5310 Main St., P.O. Box 209, Orono, ON LOB 1M0 E-mail: oronotimes@rogers.com or Phone/Fax: 905-983-5301 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart Sports and Display Advertising - Donna Wood Front Office and Classified Advertising - Rosey Bateman Hie Orono Weekly Times welcomes letters to the editor on subjects of interest to our readers. Opinions expressed to the editor and articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Orono Weekly times. Letters must be signed and contain the address and phone number of the writer. Any letter considered unsuitable will not be acknowledged or returned. We reserve the right to edit for length, libel and slander. If your retail or classified ad appears for the first time, please check carefully. Notice of an error must be given before the next issue goes to print. The Orono Weekly Times will not be responsible for the loss or damage of such items. y Total Insanity I found myself in the possession of two pieces of Mayor John Mutton's election campaign material this week. On the back of one flyer is an endorsement by Regional Councillor Jim Schell stating "As Chair of the Regional Finance Committee and Clarington Finance Department Mayor Mutton has a proven track record of financial accountability." This must mean that he is accountable for bringing this municipality from a $2.5 million debt in 2000 to a $19.8 million debt in 2005. This in a municipality that has seen unprecedented growth and with it, unprecedented revenue from development charges. Mutton takes ownership for all the new facilities that have been built in Clarington in the past number of years-- and those still to be built. He has titled this section of his flyer, "John has Built" and "John is Building." Totally absent from his list of building projects is Total Hockey, the $ multi-million white elephant being built to house Brian McFarlane's hockey memorabilia. Under the heading "Experience Counts", Mutton has listed listed his educational qualifications. He claims he has attended the University of Toronto and Trent University. He made the same claim when he first ran for office in 1997. When I called the two universities to verify Mutton's claim, they both informed me that he had. been enrolled in some courses, but had not completed a full year of study. He also claims now that he attended Carleton University. He found time to do this since he was elected to office. Mutton also claims that he has completed his "Executive Masters" at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. The registrar at that Institute explained that as a new University, they have never issued any Masters degrees. They have no degree program called "Executive Masters," and the closest thing they have is a two-week certificate program program in Municipal Management. If you, as a concerned constituent wish to contact John Mutton, you can do so by calling his campaign office or through e-mail at the Mayor's Office. According to Clarington's Deputy Mayor Anne Greentree, the municipal act states that use of corporate ' resources for campaign purposes is not permitted. However, when questioned about Mutton's use of his municipal e-mail address, she stated that according to a legal opinion she obtained, "In this case it is not a violation." .When I asked if all incumbents could use their municipal web address, she said they would have to look at each situation on its own merit. The rule is quite explicit, candidates are not allowed to use municipal resources in their election campaign. The Mayor's e-mail address is a municipal resource--yet he is allowed to use it. This type of behaviour has gone on far too long at town hall which is exactly why we need a total change this November. Letters to the Editor To vote or not to vote Dear Editor That's the trouble with politicians they can promise whatever they want during a campaign but they are not obliged to deliver when elected. elected. So what, you say. Everybody Everybody knows that. What else is new? Of course you're right this is old news. So, promises during an election campaign mean nothing. Well no, not really you say. We have to know what the candidate plans to do if elected. Does all this make sense? Apparently not to 70% of eligible eligible voters, they don't waste their time going to the polls. And who can blame them, when the other 30% can't convince convince each other that it all makes sense. The other trouble with VOTE see page 3 Voter advice Dear Editor: I think a vote for the "Mutton" would leave one sheepish and sad! R. W. Wakefield Orono -l- ; : • ' •' L, # '• • -K; L /- : y yy' ■, fvj v - -.y 1- jv • y . if i.V ■ . ,s- ' f * •7 sçjï «ns&giipB* c y\ .. ( / c/W Z Tit* Pf~Ai wm/ ; . > Qfif£ N'QMD @£A//tVQ{ : my BAtk an'H'pz. rm saut *rtiL <9* AmS / OPINION Why we need change in Clarington Council by Mark Hendrikx Newcastle As the only Chartered Accountant practice this side of Bowmanville I feel I have a bit of a responsibility to help out when it comes to numbers and business information. Quite frankly, what I'm seeing I'm finding quite disturbing. There are many similarities between a business, such as a restaurant, and a municipality. Both provide services to a customer (local resident), both take money from the customer for these services, both are operated on a day to day basis Dear Editor: In Stan Josey's article titled "Clarington Candidates Get into Gear", which appeared in last Thursday's Torono Star, he refers to me as a "Town Hall Gadfly" without clarifying clarifying the meaning of Gadfly. The appropriate meaning, after speaking with the reporter that wrote the story is by staff trained in their jobs, and both are directed on major policy decisions by an external external board, the members of who were voted to their positions positions by people who had an ownership in the firm. But there are some major differences. The municipality has all the traits of a monopoly - there really is no competing restaurant unless you move out of Clarington, and therefore therefore you will pay whatever price the restaurant charges for the food or you don't eat. Of course, in this scenario there are no grocery stores-- you eat out or not at all. I that of an ever-present critic that stings the political beast with the TRUTH. As for experience, I have attended more meetings than Schell and Mutton in their * total careers--all that in pursuit pursuit of accountabilility. "Sting them with the truth". Richard Ward Orono guess in the long run you can abdicate from Clarington and create your own sovereign land, but not in the next, four years. There is nothing wrong with a benevolent monopoly. When the best interests of the customer are paramount and the opportunity for wastage is kept under control they can often be one of the best forms of business. Out of control, they can be downright disastrous. disastrous. There are a number of warning signs of a monopoly out of control. The first and most obvious is rapid and unreasonable price (tax) increases. increases. Check your hydro bill. Now check your tax bill. Inflation is currently 2.4% per year (as of July 2006) and it hasn't really been far off that for years. Here's the important issue: That's what the average person has been getting for raises for quite some time, especially seniors on fixed pensions. The tax rate increase has been so far in excess of this for the last six years it approaches ridiculousness. CHANGE see page 9 "Sting them with the truth"