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2 - Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday, Decemtier 10,2003 ) 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 the 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 editor on subjects of interest to our readers. Opinions expressed to the editor and articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily 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. Evolving once again It certainly is good news to the community that after some period of absence, we will once again have doctors practicing in the village. When Dr. Spruyt left her practice a year ago in Newcastle after having worked in Orono for years, many Orono residents were left without a doctor. Some found they had to go as far as Ajax and beyond to find a doctor willing to take on new patients--some still haven't found one. Cudos to the group who saw the need as an opportunity and did what Orono does so well--see a need and address it. "Take the bull by the horns and try to get something done--invest in itself," in the words of Bill Tomlinson, The group of residents who formed the Orono Medical Foundation - Tino Montopoli, Bill Tomlinson, Ed Millson, Gord Robinson, Tom Henderson, and John Witheridge, who met head on the challenge of luring doctors to the village, competing with half the other villages and towns in this province that are also classified as under serviced medically. It is no secret that Dr. Michael Ward, who moved his practice from town three years ago wants to come back. And if he brings a few more doctors with him, that will be a real bonus for the village. A medical centre will do far more than address the health needs of the community, it will bring people into town who otherwise normally might not come here. With the future viability of the village under a microscope,--the microscope,--the subject of the recently formed focus group on the village of Orono, word of a new medical clinic in town stocked with doctors is good news indeed. This is further evidence that this town is not dying. It's just evolving once again. $ 1 GE^| • by Alex Shepherd, MP Durham Uniting the right All the hoopla over uniting the right, with the Tories voting voting over 90% for the union, begs the question of why the marriage? In spite of the musings by a number of supporters the reality reality was that the Alliance Party was very much on the ropes. There was only one place to go and that was down. The poll numbers were clear. The more Canadians learned about the Alliance the less they liked them because the broad base of Canadian Alliance thinking is quite foreign to mainline Canadian thinking. For instance, their idea to preserve regionalism by reducing the powers of the federal government and trans ferring them to the provinces won't build a strong nation but instead contribute to national disintegration. Many Alliance supporters from Western Canada want less ties with Ottawa and closer closer ties with Washington. Take Alberta as a case in point. The States is where much of Alberta's prosperity in the oil and gas industry comes from because of. their close association with American oil interests. In fact they must be ecstatic ecstatic with George W. Bush being president. If you go to Calgary or Edmonton you will see that all the streets are numbered something like New York City. Now that Paul Martin is in charge those Western Canadians who support closer ties with the U.S. will find their days numbered. This makes it important for the Alliance (formerly the Reform Party and now the Conservative Party) to find some way to cloak themselves in respectability. They've used the Progressive Conservative Party to do this. The PC's have a long tradition tradition in Canada. While I don't always agree with their platforms platforms I feel more at home debating them because we share some basic agreement about what Canada is all about. For the right to mathematically mathematically form a government it requires the radical right of the west to combine with the traditional traditional conservatism of Ontario and Atlantic Canada, and worse, the nationalists of Quebec. This is how Lucien Bouchard got his start^with Brian Mulroney. And it seems to be where the Humpty Durnpty marriage is going; putting all these politically right pieces back together. Traditionally, the more moderate forces of Ontario and Atlantic Canada have had the control of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada which made it tolerable to some Canadians. The new Conservative Party is still in the control of the radical right from the west, the Alliance Party. For this reason it is difficult to see how this marriage is going to unfold. Having said all this I do believe it is important to have an effective opposition. Most of the true opposition to the government has occurred within the Liberal Party of Canada over the last ten years. In would be useful for the public to have a more transparent transparent opposition in the House of Commons. Letter to the Editor 407 Consolation Dear Margaret: Albert Werry shares disappointment disappointment in thought with Clarington Mayor John Mutton on ITER (International (International Thermonuclear Experimental Experimental Reactor) project non-approval by Canada. However, Werry feels consolation consolation prize for Clarington could very well be full buildout buildout of Highway 407 through Durham Region connecting to Highway 35/115. Albert Worry Custom Ranching