Ee Spring floods come early Me) 2% 2 SY Ted RY PEG aN pil rae #00 NE oh Saw dB, SSL YO Ly ey Se ob badass td anette Ns iiss ide This picture pretty much tells the story of the weather in Scugog Township over the past week, and indeed in most of Ontario. The unseasonably mild temperatures in the middle of February, coupled with steady rain have led to flooding in several areas like this concession road north of Port Perry where the Nonquon River has spilled over its banks. continuation of the damp, foggy weather for the next several days, at least. Liberals nominate hi hp The Liberal candidate in the Durham-York riding says regional government will be an issue in the cam- paign leading up to the provincial election March 19. Gary Adamson, a 37-year old high school teacher captured the Liberal nomi- nation February 17, beating out Sutton newspaper editor Bob Johnston at a meeting held in Udora. Mr. Adamson is the third candidate to be nominated in this riding and he will face Marg Wilbur of the New Democrats and Ross Steven- son of the Conservatives. Speaking at the nomina- tion meeting which was attended by about 125 Liberal supporters, Mr. Adamson called for a review of the regional government system, saying it has not done what it was supposed to do by saving money in the supply of services. Noting that it was the Conservative government which brought in the region- al system, he labelled it "a testimony to the inefficiency of the Davis government." After the meeting, Mr. Adamson said-that-while he does not believe the system should necessarily be dismantled, some of the functions should be returned to the local municipalities, such as the administration of sewer and water services. He said that regional government is becoming too expensive, and mentioned areas in York Region where people will soon not be able to afford the taxes on their homes and properties. Mr. Adamson, who teaches physical education and history at Georges Vanier High School in North York, and lives in Markham, just outside the Durham-York provincial riding boundary, is a former trustee with the York County Board of Education. He is married with two children, aged 11 and nine. He told the meet- ing he will take a four week leave of absence from his job to fight the election cam- paign. He owns property inside the riding near Mount Albert. Some of the other issues he said he will be addressing during the campaign include the economy of the province, the plight of small business, the loss of good farmland, the erosion of net farm incomes, and the need to --equalize hydro rates in the urban and rural areas of the province, which presently are 28 per cent higher in rural areas. The forecast calls for a He told the meeting that net farm incomes in Ontario are down 32 per cent in 1980, and for the first time have slipped below the level in Quebec. He said small business, which provides 40 per cent of the jobs in the province, is reeling under high interest rates, and at one point during his speech, said Ontario is in "economic chaos under the P.C. party." "Ontario is now 10th in real growth per capita in Canada, and that is a very sad fact," he stated. Mr. Adamson beat out Bob Johnston for the nomination. Mr. Johnston, 32, is editor of the Georgina Advocate. He made national headlines three weeks ago when he narrowly missed going to jail for refusing to name the source of a letter which was printed in his paper. He had been found guilty of contempt in a labour rela- tions board hearing for refusing to name the source and was sentenced to 90 days in jail. However, three hours before his sentence was to begin, the union involved in the original hearing dropped its demand that he reveal the source of the letter. In his speech to the dele- gates, Mr. Johnston charged (ATLAS 4 HK fey ind h . EHR PEE EA ' . 1 iat ) i [] aaa aa Vol. Vol.115 No.13 Sli ibvti-atendddsioir caddie enkon ssi bE SNES Sit Fa AE] ] rs . MER EE ThE MO Wednesday, February 25, 1981 STII PIR RAVE CW Pp, Sms 32 Pages Councillors get salary hike Outside workers ratify contract Scugog Township's outside employees have ratified a new one year contract which will give them a $1.43 an hour increase in three stages during 1981. The agreement was reach- ed last week between Town- ship council and negotiators for the workers who are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. CUPE rep Russ Whitney "said last week that he is "very satisfied" with the new contract, which was a substantial improvement over an initial offer from the Township in January which was turned down flatly by the union. The new contract gives the employees a 95 cent an hour that Durham-York riding is "one of the have-not sisters on the edge of the golden horseshoe' and that Conser- vative reps Bill Newman and Matthew Dymond did not have time to pay attention to local issues because they were cabinet ministers. Like Mr. Adamson, he also called for a major review of regional government, saying "we can't afford it any more." He urged as well that young farmers receive help to get started because of the high costs of borrowing money for land and equip- ment. Although there were well over 100 people in the community hall in Udora for the nomination meeting, only 84 of them cast ballots for the candidates as voting was limited to those who either renewed their membership that night or had bought new member- ships at least 72 hours prior to the meeting. Mr. Adamson was nomi- nated by Don Hadden, a dairy farmer and Regional councillor from Brock Township. Mr. Johnston was nominated by Sam Nasello, a Sutton lawyer. Also at the meeting, Alex (Turn to page 2) increase retroactive to Janu- ary 1, 1981; an additional 38 cents an hour effective February 21 and a further 10 cents an hour on July 1. The 38 cents an hour increase is a catch-up stipu- lation as a result of a reduct- ion in the work week from 42 to 40 hours. This reduction in the work week without sig- nificant loss of pay had been one of the main areas of dispute between the two sides © when the initial contract bargaining got underway early this year. In addition to the wage provisions, the new contract calls for double time for Sunday work. The rate in the previous contract had been time and a half for Sundays. Liberal candidate in Durham-York Gary Adam- son is congratulated by Bob Johnston [right] after Mr. Adamson won the nomination at a meeting held February 17 in Udora. Township council last week also agreed to salary increased for seven office employees and roads depart- ment superintendents Ron MacDonald and Merlin Suggitt. Clerk-Administrator Earl Cuddie, treasurer Alex Thomson and by-law enforcement officer, Robert Kenny each were granted increases of $1500 annually, bringing their respective salaries to $27.000, $19,500, and $16,500. Works superintendent Ron MacDonald was granted a $2000 increase for 1981 bring- ing his salary to $22,750 and deputy Merlin Suggitt will (Turn to page 2) Svs a Cr SR Sr a BS SRW - xX iy AT SNL ry we nd J { ROAR PNG aT EAM SA ih we "oad EA : HE Bet A LTE SL FPS 9 TY Tee, - =>, TG rr BELA ry Ae 7 y Sh 2 SUE HY, fh . Ser Co Ziv SS