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yr A ww» 10 -- Scugog Citizen -- Tuesday , June 22, 1993 36 WATER ST, PORT PERRY, ONT. L9L1J2 Phone : (416) uid Fax : (416) 985-1410 "Prod Canadiana, proud to call Scugog Township home." Pyolished BY AR Citizen Publishing Ld] | co-publishers : . dently owned John B: McClelland, Valerie Ellis The Scugos Citizen, an independently gumed and opeaied weekly community newspaper, is distributed, free of charge, to editor: John B. McClelland over 10,000 homes and businesses in and around Scugog Township. / advertising manager : Valerie Ellis Subscriptions sold outside Scugog Township. advertising sales : Chris Hudson Fa general manager : Darlene Hlozan NA Member . un ' ember feature writer : Heather McCrae CCNA Verified Circulation Dhergdiion? Controlled Fl EDITORIALS 4 This week marks an important milestone} in the young life of the Scugog Citizen. We are celebrating our Lang anniversary, heading into our third year of. publishing this n for the residents of Scugog and surrounding ¢ areas. To say that the last couple of years have been challenging would be an under-statement. Yet for all the challenges that had to be met and overcome, we have had more than our share of rewards, large and small. We are pleased to be able to say that the Citizemshas grown since the first edition rolled off the presses the last week in June, 1991. We are publishing more pages and the amount of advertising carried on those pages continues to show steady growth week after week. And since ads are the only source of revenue for the Citizen. we sincerely thank all our clients for their support these last two years. Likewise, on this our second birthday, the publishers wish to thank all those in our community who have wished us well, Pap our birthday! DEmocracy IN . ACTION P = ---- © a oo sm-- offered words of encouragement and supported this in ways both large and pmall. Your posi de, your ts are deepiy appreciated E and will never be forgotten. The publishers of the Citizen have opted to celebrate our second anniversary quietly. We have been just too busy to plan any kind of a big party. Anyway, that's not our style. But as we start our third year in business, the publishers would like to express heart-felt thanks to many people: our readers and advertisers, obviously, for without them we would not be here; our carrier boys and girls who go to work every Tuesday afternoon, often in bad weather, to make gure the Citizen gets into homes in Port Perry and Prince Albert. And finally, we want to thank our staff, the people who work full and part time at the Citizen. Their dedicati LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Address causes of poverty To the Editor: First the federal Conservative government took aim at the unemploy insurance system, at a time when 1.6 million Canadians are out of work. Now, instead of doing and loyalty is nothing short of amazing. When there is a job to be done, they roll up their sleeves and get it done. dream over a kitchen table. Bringing that-dream to the reality of where it is today has kept all of us on our toes to do the best possible job we can. Changes welcome Two years ago, the C on Pl and Devel Reform chaired by former Toronto Mayor John Sewell started work on how to improve the planning process in this province. On Monday, the final draft with its 98 recommendations was handed down, "a comprehensive set of recommendations the province can start to implement immediately," said Sewell. Time will tell if the cumbersome and terribly expensive planning process in Ontario will be streamlined or even speeded up, but there some i One is that in the case of an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) the Board should first get all parties together within 30 days to see if the dispute can be resolved informally. If not, it should try to at least get the parties to exchange Like many new business ventures, the Citizen was born as a |. thing to help the 4.2 million poor Canadians, they're trying to redefine poverty. I was shocked to read recently how a parliamentary subcommittee boycotted by our . Party recommended that the government develop a new way of measuring poverty. For the record, it is estimated that Canadians living in poverty went from 877,000 people in 1980 to 4.2 million in 1991. Of these, 1.1 million are children, or an estimated 1 out of every 6 children in Canada. It seems to me that this government's only solution to reducing poverty is to find another way to measure it, rather than address the issues that cause it. It is also interesting to note that while Canada's poor have b even poorer in the information and narrow down the issues to be heard. Also of importance is the rec dation that "the ber of 1 and development 'decisi made by the province be substantially reduced," with more power handed over to the local or second tier governments. central issue in the planning process. That's all well and good, but just how far should the pi go in achieving this without putting up more time consuming road-blocks. Likewise for "protecting the rural character and providing opportunities for rural development." It sounds good, but often the two are mutually exclusive as Scugog Township found out very recently. The development approval process in Ontario is an expensive and time consuming tangle of red tape that infuriates ratepayers and frustrates developers. Anything that speeds the process and protects citizens and their communities would be welcome indeed. The report spells out protection of the environment as the | last decade, the rich are getting richer. According to the National Forum on Family Security, the bottom 20% (incomes below $25,200) experienced a decrease in income from 6.6% to 6.4%, a loss of about $0.4 billion. The top 20% (over $74,200) increased their share from 38.3% to 40%, giving them a $6.6 billion more of Canada's total family income in 1991. Also appalling are comments from the committee's chair that poverty numbers may be over-exaggerated and a » » questioning of the users of food banks. But then again, this is an election year and it is a lot easier to change a formula to make the problem seem less serious than to deal with the real causes of poverty - especially when most of the country's problems stem from nine years of Tory fiscal mismanagement. Even if you find another way of measuring poverty, the fact remains that Canadians are hurting and they need a government that cares. They need a government that recognizes Canadian's right to jobs and human dignity and the financial security that accompanies a job. The day the chair of the wai on poverty released, its report, New Democratic Party Leader Audrey McLaughlin tables a bill entitled an Act to Provide for Full Employment in Canada. This proposed legislation is based on the Federal NDP Jobs Plan, a Strategy for a Full Employment Economy, released earlier this year. Local residents wanting more information about the NDP Jobs Plan should call (416) 986-5441. Sincerely, Lucy Rybka-Becker Federal NDP Candidate, _ Durham An alternative? To the Editor: Citizen readers have heard that the Operating Engineers Training Institute project proposed for the Marsh Hill area has now been withdrawn. Our local Council is said to be pretty upset about this loss of potential fax revenue. Regional Councillor Christie apparently fears the decision will make Scugog look like "a place not to do business," and since I agree that it would be unfortunate to appear opposed to reasonable forms of new development, I have a suggestion to offer. Why not set up a local Round Table on Environment and Economy, and get to work to try and attract one or more of the many kinds of "green business" springing sup - everywhere these days? Anyone can call up the province's Round Table office in Toronto (327-2032) and request a copy of their short report on how to set up a local round table. For those not familiar with the concept, the idea is to get government representatives . sitting down at the same table with business people, local citizens, and people from the environment community - to begin hashing out new ways of doing business that do not cause more problems than they solve. The round table idea really seems to have potential. Wouldn't this be the perfect time to try it out here? Sincerely, Janet Banting, Greenbank