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"Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" ST aint aa gd 0 wy NE YA aman 2 PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, December 4, 2001 - 7 Question of the Week... not than no. Do you think Scugog Township ' Soot Menzies Sandra Frey Michael Balek Josie Jobson Andrea Jones ere is a prob- If it's necessary Yes, so than we Yes, every town- At this point in time needs another lem with over- due to expanding have smaller ship needs more it would be better to elementary crowding class. population, then it schools 50 we San public schools. keep Epsom Public | rooms yes, but i get to know people : have another school. Parking fee reasonable To the Editor: Two dollar parking -- what a bargain! In March 2000 my son was born three months early at Women's College Hospital in Toronto. Because he was in the neo- natal intensive care unit, we were given a parking pass that allowed us to park in the hospital garage for the low price of $12 per day. He was at Women's College for nine weeks. My wife and | missed very few days visiting him. He received the very best of care, the dedication of the doctors and nurses has to be experienced to be appre- ciated. The parking fee was the least of our worries. The few times we have used the services of Lakeridge Health Port Perry the care was the best. If paying to park helps the hospital raise revenue then so be it. Health care in this country is a privilege not a right and that privilege costs money, either through taxes or parking fees. The money has to come from some- where. Many people have no problem paying $2 or $3 for a coffee and a donut every day or $5 to launch their boat in Lake Scugog. | will have no problem paying $2 to visit the Port Perry hospital when needed. Today my son is a healthy and happy little boy, and if he is to have the same health care privileges for his family, the system has to be efficient. Murray Blair Port Perry Oh, good grief. There's a strange man ringing the bell. Oh, go away. I have supper to get ready. But the kids are already galloping to the ; door like a herd of frightened ponies. He's holding a clipboard. Can't be Jehovah's Witness. No, it's worse. He's from some gas or electrical company pitching fixed-rate contracts. | don't know what they're talking about even if their English is comprehensible. Cue the 1950s sheltered housewife routine - I blow him off by saying he'd have to talk to my husband, but His Lordship is - napping. : : So Mr. Hui Wei leaves his name and a contract and fades - into the numbing blackness of a November night. A thankless job. But I'm rélieved he's gone. Still, something nags. 1t was easier when that young hustler in a tie and leather jacket came trolling with an offer of a free trial game at a glow- in-the-dark mini-putt in some Whitby parking lot. "Do we get to wear signs that say, "I Have Nothing Better To Dol?" | asked him (in a scene played out later in my head). In reality, | only managed a firm "No thank-you". Couldn't crush the kid. ] But this electricity-deregulation thing, after a number of postponements, is supposed to take effect in june. What to do? What does it mean? Are rates going to soar? Should | get out my flashlight and chase Mr. Wei down the street? I know. I'll call Councillor Marilyn Pearce. She's a smart lady. Chairman of Scugog Township's finance committee. Good with numbers. She'll know what to do. "I think the public doesn't have a clue and neitherdo I," says Councillor Pearce. "1 really need clarification." What a relief. It's not just me. Everyone really is groping the dark. Even council plans to ask a representative of Scugog Over the fence - Beware cold men with clipboards 'Hydro (aka Whitby Hydro Electric Commission) to address by Kay Langmuir them in the New Year on deregulation. But, Councillor Pearce added, the bottom-line advice from local hydro types is don't even consider signing anything until closer to the deregulation date of June 2002. Some quick Internet research reveals that doing nothing is the smart choice right now. Plans might get delayed yet again. Much could happen in the market before June. There are 45 companies in Ontario licensed to market electricity, but so far only a handful are offering contracts. Competition will only get better as time goes on. These contracts sound like just another insurance come-on, preying on people's fear of uncertainty. Some folks get the psycho-jitters easily when they think about what could be. They're the ones who'll be paying Mr. Wei's commission. But 'the rest of us should just hang in, watch the market, and when deregulation comes and you're tempted to sign something, read the fine print assiduously. There are plenty of loopholes, and the low prices they quote you don't include numerous add-on charges. No one knows how the market will evolve. The Ontario Energy Board has not yet approved the variable rate on which utilities will base their charges in June. How do these door-to- door outfits even know what kind of offers they can reasonably make? The truth is they're just guessing. These marketing companies are hoping that the long-term contracts turn out to be a good deal for them (price of electricity falls). But if prices climb, they'll likely do what many quick-buck gas marketers did when gas rates shot up last winter -- they simply cease delivery and leave their customers to return to former suppliers. Need more information? Contact the consumer advocacy group Energy Probe (www.energyprobe.org). And don't give cold men with clipboards anything but cookies. are in them. coming of a holiday and to reflect communally on the And another thing... By Rik Davie Small is good With Christmas on its way and the holiday spirit upon us all -- whether we like it or not -- it was a great break for jaded reporters sick of the grind of local politics arid the battles being fought for various causes to get out to the Santa Claus Parade. ) My weekend of shooting pictures took me to both Port Perry and Uxbridge for the festivities and it was a much needed respite from the less savoury items | sometimcs covet. Kids on the sidewalk, waiting for the big guy, and generally enjoying things to be seen in the parade, including local and familiar faces, smiling and waving to the crowds. It occurred to me that the biggest difference in these parades from city parades are the people who We see many familiar to us and in ways that would not be possible in "The Big Smoke". What point would there be to councillors in the City of Toronto sitting on a float and waving... who would know who the heck they were? Ours are known faces that we would notice if they were not out to give their annual greeting. Our MP and MPP took time to come out (not, unfortunately, the case in Uxbridge) and glad-hand a little. Especially fit- ting this year was the sometimes criticized habit of Durham MP Alex Shepherd giving out Canadian flags. There were, after the recent tragedies, a lot of flag wavers out there this year. The firefighters ioined in with the kids loving the big red trucks and the parents a little more respectful, again after recent events, of these citizen firefighters and their devotion to our community. One of the most touching sites was a lone Durham Regional Police Constable and a firefighter, carrying an American and a Canadian flag down the street. In some areas of the parade old men saluted, the crowd fell quiet for a moment and in others the crowd spon- taneously broke into applause in thanks for the sacri- fices made last September. A coming together of our community is the simplest way to put it. A gathering of us all to celebrate the year that winds to a close. For the kids, a time of expectation. For us too, this year. To take a backwards step from that reflective mode, however, | feel that | need to make a few public announce aents in order to protect those l interact with for the next few weeks. A. No, | am not all ready for Christmas and the next person that asks me that will get wrapped and mailed to one of the people | have yet to get a gift, thus solving two problems at once. B. In this particular business we get almost no time off for Christmas or New Years, so don't ask me if I'm going south this year or you will be! C. No. | am not looking forward to snow and yes, it's always cold enough for me and no, I don't think spring will ever come and no, | do not think snow is necessary for Christmas and neither did the people who threw the first one or they wouldn't have done itin the Middle East! D. 1am not happy to see this year go. | am getting up there, you see, and only an idiot would be happy to see time pass any quicker than it does. That should cover it. No more rhetorical questions until after Christmas. .. please!