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Subscriptions $29.91 + $2.09 GST $32.00 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 le Publications Assistance Program (PAP) toward our mailing costs. Orono Weekly Times 5310 Main Street, P.O. Box 209, Orono, Ontario LOB 1M0 Email: oronotimes@speedline.ca • Phone/Fax 905-983-5301 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart The Orono Weekly Times welcomes letters to the editonjn subjects °^' nt ? rest J° feReT ctfnsidwedtmsdlabK%Hl"not esshrily reflect theopihionslof the Oronofbr the first time, please check carefully. Notice of.an ~=SllSS£!X^ ---- ,V/ . Æ If you have never attended a meeting of the Clarington Agricultural Advisory Committee, (CAAC) I would recommend it for an evening of non-stop action. . , tJ . The Monday night CAAC meeting held at the Bowmanville Town Hall was certainly a raucous affair The meeting was rescheduled from August 14, the night the lights went out, unlike the Orono Horticultural Chib who held their meeting in the dark basement of the Orono United Church anyway, with the assistance of candle light, y , * n Chairman Wotten led the Committee through a full evening's agenda covering such topics as the new legislation protecting the Oak Ridges Moraine, how to deal with complaints certain to arise from the impending Nutrient Management Act, and the 407. It was the discussion on the 407 that got members really heated. The CAAS is made up of farmers, appointed to the committee by council. There are members on : the cpmmittee representing each o ■ | Clarington's four tyards, apd their ipandateis.to, i advise council on agricultural matters. It seeps. - - where the rest of the community appears to be con- : cerned with the proposed new highway traversing : ;. ; through north Claringtori's farmland, the ten farmers, present at Monday night's meeting can't wait for the highway to be completed. ' Where Clarington council is on record as not wanting wanting the highway to be constructed east of the proposed proposed East Durham link through Courtice down to the 401, the farming community is saying forget the Courtice link, finish the 407 the 115/35 and make the 115/3 5 the link to the 401. Farmers in north Clarington are already facing a heavy volume of traffic on the concession roads, and they fear that if the 407 stops at Courtice, the country road will be congested with traffic looking for a quick route to the 115/35 making if very difficult for farmers to safely move equipment and machinery on the concession roads. Having the 407 hanging over their heads for the past 50 years has psycologically impacted farmers. They have been unable to make long term plans not knowing if they will have their farms fragmented, directed or eliminated by the highway. The farmers on the CAAC feel that all levels of government are just paying lip service to the importance importance of sustainable farm operations. Municipal politicians say one of the reasons they don't want the 407 in Clarington is because it will cut through our precious agricultural reserve. Yet it is this same level of positions who continuously approve housing developments on prime agricultural land and collect the lucrative development charge levee from each new home. , , It is ironic that the very group the municipality says they are trying to protect, in their decision to oppose the construction of the 407 through Clarington, seems so united and adamant that they want this highway built yesterday. Viewpoint by Rob MacDonald The other day our youngest son Garrett and I entered into an unresolved discussion we've had countless times. This time I came away feeling I had finally got my view across to the point where he may be starting to waver! The subject: the metric system. Yet one more reminder of the gone but unfortunately not- forgotten legacy of the Right Honorable, Pierre Trudeau. Metric, for me, is something akin to a festering carbuncle in my nether regions! The analogy I utilized incorporated his maternal grandfather, Dziadek, who immigrated to Canada nearly 60 years ago but still thinks in Polish, or at least we assume English conversation, translates translates it in his mind, thinks about it in Polish, translates it back to English and then out it comes as verbal English with a healthy dose of Polish accent! Needless to say it's a slow procedure and something something gets lost or misconstrued misconstrued in the process, but he believes when in Rome, do as the Romans do. I explained to Garrett that Dziadek willingly accepted and tried to master the foreign language English as the price he had to pay for the opportunity opportunity to live in this wonderful country of ours. Imagine, 1 opined, had his Dziadek never left Poland and the English language had been foisted upon him by an all-knowing, arrogant little dictator, who when questioned, mumbled "fuddle duddle" and ordered the masses to shut up, sit down and don't question the Great Oz! Now imagine, I continued, that said little dictator dictator ensured that Dziadek's children also citizens of Poland be taught only English, not Polish. As if that wouldn't be frustrating enough, Poland's larger primary primary trading partner to the south still speaks only Polish! This, 1 equated, is how I feel about metrification. It's an imposed foreign language and the objective is to eliminate eliminate the Imperial System, my native tongue! Nearly thirty VIEWPOINT continued pig» 6