The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

"WEEKEND STAR" Censorship is jndeed a touchy issue To the Editor: What is it about the arty class that causes it to take a fit at the first hint of censorship?-We man- age to live quite happily with all sorts of censor- ship, be they societal or legal sanctions, directed against the freedom of expression, yet the arty types choose to get their collective knickers in a tangle whenever a censor casts a glance in their direction. : This is precisely the case with John Foote who, in his letter to the Weekend Star, condemns the Ontario Film Review Board for banning the movie "Fat Girl" in its uncut form. The fact that Mr. Foote admits to never having seen the movie is a sure sign of a knee-jerk reaction that lacks any credibility. Foote claims that "Breillax's films deal out brutal honesty in their portrayal of troubled youth, and we must admit that many problems are sexually related." Certainly these issues should be discussed but in which forum. | suggest that the use of minors in sex scenes in a commer- cial movie amounts to exploitation, not discus- sion. Art or social com- mentary play no part, the idea being to titillate. No doubt Mr. Foote will tell me and other like-minded Philistines that we simply don't get it. Perhaps he is right, so maybe he can tell us how many years of post-sec- ondary education we will need before we come to view as art what many characterize as exploita- tive smut. Bernie Gotham. Bowmanville School bus operators given extra funds To help Ontario's school bus oper- ators address continuing cost pres- sures, Education Minister Janet Ecker has announced additional one-time funding of $29.3 million for student transportation. This is $6 million more than the additional support provided last year. Individual alloca- tions include: Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board ($724,562); Durham District School Board ($379,870); Durham Catholic School Board ($149,823); and Peterborough, Victoria, Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board ($404,846). I have had occasion to meet and correspond with our local bus opera- tors, and understand the pressures they face. For example, diesel fuel prices have increased by over 50 per cent since 1998 and capital costs for new equipment have risen. In addi- tion, drivers are entitled to fair and reasonable remuneration. School bus drivers and the compa- nies who operate the buses are important members of the education team. The value of safe, reliable transportation for our students can- not be overlooked in the learning process. While | am pleased to see the Education Minister respond so decisively on this issue, we must con- tinue to work on a long-range solu- tion. I look forward to a new funding formula that will provide lasting answers to the transportation issues we face. House Highlights Include Oak Ridges Moraine Act, New Municipal Bill and Ontarians With Disabilities Act Ontario's Legislature concluded Thursday. evening, Dec. 13. The fol- lowing are just a few of the highlights. Please contact my Constituency Office at 1-800-661-2433/697-1501 if you would like further information, copies of the Bills, or any other back- ground material. "® More than $30 million in security measures to keep the province safe and its economy strong. This includes doubling the budget of Emergency Measures Ontario with a $3 million per year investment, increasing the province's capacity to respond to emergencies and assist municipali- ties (including adding 28 new staff.) We are also investing $2.5 million per year for training of people who are first on the scene at emergencies. e A $9 billion transit plan to help eliminate gridlock, "strengthen the economy and improve quality of life. ° A long-term strategy to protect the Oak Ridges Moraine, one of Ontario's most important ecological assets. This strategy includes preser- vation or 100 per cent of significant natural and water resource features on the moraine. It will protect well- heads, cold water streams and kettle lakes. John Riley, Science Director of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, described the Moraine Act as a his- toric day for conservation. He point- ed out that the Act protects "almost a half million acres from urban devel- opment in the heart of Canada's fastest-growing urban region." * Passage of a new Municipal Act for the 21st Century, giving municipal- ities a broad flexibility to deal with local circumstances and recognizing the importance of consultation with municipalities on matters of mutual interest. * Passage of the Ontarians With Disabilities Act. This ground-breaking legislation is a first step. It is aimed at increasing accessibility,opportunity and independence for Ontarians with disabilities, and puts persons with disabilities at the forefront of change.This legislation involves the public, municipalities, the broader public and private sectors in devel- FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21 2001 - 7 oping shared solutions for improved accessibility. Ontario is the only juris- diction in Canada with such strong legislation for persons with disabili- ties. e Accelerated cuts to personal, corporate and capital taxes. Government Acts to Ensure Safe Water Services' The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Hon. Chris Hodgson, has introduced legislation that would provide a framework to ensure Ontario's water services are safe and sustainable for future gener- ations. In announcing the Sustainable Water and Sewage Systems Act, 2001, Minister Hodgson reiterated this gov- ernment's commitment to having the safest water in Canada. Our first step in Operation Clean Water was to enact tough new drink- ing water protection regulations, fol- lowed by the $240 million OSTAR (Ontario Small Town and Rural) initia- tive to support upgrades and the expansion of water and sewage infra- structure. The new Sustainable Water and Sewage Systems Act would require water and sewer system own- ers --- chiefly municipalities --- to undertake a full accounting of the costs (and revenues) associated with delivering water and sewer services and the investment required. The Province will work closely with munic- ipalities to ensure infrastructure needs are identified and strategies developed to meet their needs over the long-term. Please Join Our New Years Levee January 13, 2002 Everyone is welcome to attend the annual Durham Riding New Year's Levee Sunday, Jan. 13. It will take place at Trillium Trails (53 Snowridge Court, just off Simcoe Street North, at Raglan). Hours are from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. This is an excellent opportunity to meet your neighbours and wel- come the New Year. For further infor- mation, please call the Constituency Office at 697-1501 or 1-800-661-2433. I hope to see you there! Province's math doesn't add up when it comes to health care Ontario ads are not telling the whole truth Once again the Harris government is taking an adver- sarial approach to dealing with the federal government and the issue of health-care spending. But spending millions of dollars for full-page news- paper ads, instead of spending the money on health- care, seems to be the premier's policwpriority. As if convincing the people the problem lies some- where outside of Queen's Park will negate the provin- cial government's obligations to make the health-care system more efficient and accessible. More and more, as the population ages, we are going to depend on our health-care system. Investments we make today may not be reaped until years into the future. This isn't as attractive as the tax cuts Premier Harris has given out, but Premier Harris you still have to.pay your bills. You can't have it both ways. Without significant reinvestment in healthcare today our system is destined to deteriorate in the future. Having said that, the problem isn't all about money either. There is the issue of administration in healthcare falling squarely within the jurisdiction of the provincial government, I could provide a litany of current practices going on in the assembly line mentality of our healthcare system and I'm sure you could do the same. Let's take a look at the financial side of health care and what's really been going on with the provincial gov- ernment's books over the last few years. In 1997-98 the province spent $47.7 billion. The fed- eral government's contribution 'in direct transfer was $5 billion and the value of tax points given to the province was $5.4 billion. That brings the federal contribution of the province's total spending to 21.9 per cent, not the I4 per cent the premier likes to quote all the time. From that year forward the federal government con- tinually increased its share of total spending until 2001- 02. That year the province spent $54 billion. The cash transfer from the federal government was $7.6 billion and the tax points were valued at $6.9 billion bringing the percentage of federal government spending to 26.9 per cent. And while the provincial government's total spend- ing on health care increased by $6.4 billion during this period, $4.1 billion (64 per cent), was funded by the federal government. Put succinctly, the lion's share of increased health care spending in Ontario came from the federal government, not the province. For the fiscal year 2001-02 the federal government transfers provided $1.1 billion of the $1.2 billion in increased health -care spending. For this particular year it means 91.7 per cent of all increased spending came from the federal government. The source of this data comes from the Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review (Ontario) and Department of Finance (Canada). So how do these facts square with the province's ad campaign? Well, they don't. You can't play games with taxpayers' money. What makes it all so ugly is that the Harris government lets on it's fiscally responsible. The federal government is well aware of the facts. That is why there were no extraordinary increases in health care spending in the last federal budget. In short, Mr. Harris' million-dollar ad campaign, done with your hard-earned tax dollars, was a total waste of money that could have been spent in health care. Where's the common sense in that? I think we've all found the Queen's Park adversarial approach to govern- ing revolting. Prats al al RR valli ol ob SSR LS iM