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, 25 --Seugog Citizen ~ Wednesday ; May 3, 1993. " Stop whining What this'country needs is a collective kick in the seat of the pants. Nowhere has this need been more evident than in Ontario last week after the NDP brought down a budget that will "grab" some $1.6 billion in new taxes this year and another $2 billion next year. Headlines trumpeted the budget as the largest single tax grab in Canadian history and the reaction from big business to big labour to the Opposition parties at Queens Park was as predictable as the hands on a clock. Liberal leader Lyn McLeod shrilled that the budget will kill the fragile recovery. This begs the question of what McLeod was saying when the Liberals wera in power and hiked government spending by hefty amounts for five successive years. Like it or not, Canadians have to face the stark facts. The country has spent its way. into a debt-ridden house of cards over the last couple of decades and now the time has come to pay the piper. Letting the deficits continue to spiral upward at all levels of government would lead us nowhere. Even now, the interest on this debt is seriously impacting on government capabifity to provide essential services. It had to come to an end. Sure, the tax hikes bite sharply into the pockets of average Ontarians. Plain and simple, they hurt at a time when many people are already hurting. But wait a minute, Ontarians and Canadians elsewhere in the country, ought to take a Tong, hard look around amd a emselves if there is any place in the world they § rather be. Without sluffing off the serious nature of the economic problems we face, Canadians:can count themselves among the blessed on this planet. Hardship? Try the former Soviet Union where even the basic ities of food and shelter are g beyond the reach of millions. Hardship? Try any country in mid-Africa where starvation arid disease are rampant and politics comes from the barrel of an automatic rifle. Hardship? Try beine an office worker in downtown Tokyo where the work week is six days and the work day starts with a 4:00 AM subway ride where commuters are jammed in like sardines and ends the same way at 7:00 in the evening. Hardship? Try getting sick in the United States if you don't have adequate private medical insurance. pe x To the Editor: The following is in response to the letter last week from the President of "SCOPE, Jim Byers. - For over forty years my company, James. Sabiston Ltd. has been carrying on business Scugog Township across Ontario and never before have 1 observed a more selfish, self- serving group of misinformed ratepayers aggSCOPE. ,) Obviously, due to the current state of the economy, it is'in my best. interest to sell my property to the International Union of Operating Engineers. Their proposal to construct modern classroom facilities and conduct training classes and the operation of construction equipment in my existing gravel pit for the benefit of fair-minded Scugog Wake up, take a look around, count your bl gs and be thankful for what yeu have. Point fingers if you will, but never forget that the massive government debt that burdens us now has given each and every one of us a standard of living since the end of WW 2 un-matched anywhere on earth. What we have done is put off paying for it, until now. The day of reckoning had to come. Making. do with less is a fact of life in this decade. Stop whining. Get up tomorrow morning, go to work and be thankful. If you don't have a job, get up tomorrow morning and go find one. If you don't want to live in this country, fine, take a hike somewhere, anywhere and see if the grass really is greener on the other side. If not, stop whining and thank your lucky fare you're a Canadian. There are countless millions in every corner of the globe who would gladly step into your shoes. iti does make sense and would benefit the taxpayers of the Township of Scugog for years to come. Failing the 1 sale of in many communities like, them that with my almost 200 acres of zoned and licensed aggregaje extraction property on the north side and Vicdom's 200 acres of licensed aggregate extraction on the south side, both of which have the legal right to extract materials seven days a week, 365 days a year, the predominant land use is not cultural. Whoever started th& rumours that there isn't any valuable material left is either terribly misinformed or deliberately ipulating LETTERS TO THE EDITOR A response to SCOPE are granted approval for the training centre. For some time now, there -have been several discussions with the staff at Lake Simcoe Conservation Authority and Scugog to dedicate' the approximate forty acres of Class 1 wetland by the Operating Engineers free and clear to the Conservation Authority to be managed in perpetuity. That is a major financial the facts. It is my personal belief that all landowners should be treated fairly but I fnust admit that after 26 mofiths and almost $250,000. being spent to try to satisfy the objections of neighb I have b deration by the Operating Engineers and should not be dooked upon lightly. I would be 'more concerned that the recent removal of the rail line will provide for the opportunity of illegal dumping of garbage directly into the wetlands b of the easy access onto quite cynical. How some of those so-called environmentalists can even look at themselves in the mirror is beyond belief. of "the most vocal objectors are hypocrites to say the least my property to the Operating Engineers will, I assure you,not as a threat but as a business reality, cause me to accelerate the extraction of materials with my unli ing their major zoning by-law and property standards by-law infractions like junk 'yards, illegal house trailers and apartments, just to name those that are visible. An tonnage license on the 12th Concession. For sore reason, the members of SCOPE have been lulled into a false sense of security by their executive that the west portion of the 12th Concession Road is a peaceful agricultural community. Common sense should tell investigation by the T hip of Scugog, I am sure, will uncover many more. s True environmentalists also don't pollute the landscape with silly signs, some of which are even nailed to live trees. The biggest fallacy that SCOPE has perpetrated is that the Class 1 wetlands will risk if the Operating Engineers RS the railway right-of-way. I have proceeded to fence the right-of-way on the 12th and maybe SCOPE should consider , doing the same on the 13th if they really do care about the protection of the wetlands. 1 agree that O.M.B. hearings are costly for everyone but I. want to assure the members of " SCOPE that I will be there supporting the 'application very Aenaciously. ' There is an old saying that "when emotion prevails, logic fails" and fortunately for the silent majority of Scugog taxpayers the O.M.B. traditionally knows the difference between self-ifiterest and community interest. : Sincerely, a James Sabiston, R.R. #2, Stouffville a mr-- published by Scugog Citizen Publishing Ltd. . co-publishers : John B. McClelland, Valerie Ellis editor : John B. McClelland advertising manager : Valerie Ellis general mow" ST., PORT PERRY, ONT. L9L1J2 Phone : (416) 985-6397 Fax : (416) 985-1410 sales : Chris Hudson manager Darlene Hlozan feature writer : Heather McCrae "Proud Canadians, prow 0 cal Scugog Township home." + The Scugog Citizen, an independently owned and operated weekly community newspaper, is distributed, free of charge, to over 10,000 homes and buSinesses in and around Scugog Township. : Subs pti Wd uisde Scupop Toumshiy, OCNA Member CCNA Member + CCNA Verified Circulation Controlled x a a SE EEE OTA