PA(AL 4. \VLl)NL.SlA'ý . \1 \l l .'S.XIII \Iî ><S whitby Voice of the County Town Michael lan Burgess, Publisher - Managing Editor The only Whithy newspaper independentil owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whithy residents. ,Iished 'v erY %ednesday hv N.B.NI. I>uhlmhing and Ihotography lne. Phone 669-61 Il The Free Press Building. 1:1 Brock Street North. P.O>. Box 206, Whitbv, <Ont. Michael J. Knell community Editor Marjorie A. Burgess Production Manager Karen Thompson Advertising Manager Mailing Permit No. 480 Member of the Whitby Chamber of Commerce Parochial region better than county Last week, Centre Ward Councillor Barry Evans said that the Regional Municipality of Durham should be disbanded by the provincial gover- nment. Evans made the call claiming that the individual members of Durham *Regional Council are parochial in their politics and will only vote for those projects that benefit their own particular municipality. The local councillor's demand came after regional council decided to defer, for at least one year, the construction of the second phase of the Pringle Creek-Corbett Creek Diversion Sewer, in Port Whitby. Regional council made the decision to lefer the estimated $2.6 million project saying that it could not be financially supported out of the water and sewer user rate. Councillors also said that development projections show that the sewer is not needed for that reason. Evans' demand will have a great deal of short- term political support. In fact, Liberal party can- didates in the region's four provincial ridings have said that they would consider such a move. BFST OrF PEITER/ TRUEMAN A weekly news commentary from one of Canada's outstanding news personalities It's easy enough to understand why the Reagan admin- istration has been twisting the Soviet tiger's tail. The Americans have had a lot of sand kicked in their faces lately. But so have the Russians. And we've been so pre- occupied with our own troubles since the Arabs started the energy squeeze that we've tended to overlook even more disruptive developments in the Soviet Union. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the Russians have soaring inflation, sagging morale, and a cynicism about their leaders that makes ours look mild. The view from the Kremlin can't be very encouraging. Poland must look like a gaping chink in their ideological armour. The Chinese continue to compete and threaten. Most of the Moslem world is furious with the Soviet leadership over Afghanistan, and that cannot be comforting for the Soviet hierarchv when it remembers that there are some 75 mill- ion Mpsiems inside the Soviet borders. Until Reagan start- ed rattling his sabre, the west was the least of Soviet problems. But the cost of their military supremacy in Europe has been enormous. An article in the New York Review sug- gests that massive military spending has been one reason for a sudden and dramatic decline in the state of Soviet public health. Once a model for developing nations, an increase in infant mortality rates and a decline in life ex- pectancy has pushed the Soviet health index back to the level of countries like Sri Lanka and the Dominican Repub- lic. Alcoholism is almost epidemic. Russians drink twice as much as Americans and Swedes, and urban families in the Soviet Union devote nearly the same proportion of their weekly budget to alcohol that American families devote to food. Considering all these things .- a failing economy, health and morale -- it's no wonder that the Communist party congress issued a plea for a Reagan summit and a return to full-blown detente. It's no trick. Despite NATO's weak- ness, the west may be in a much stronger position than most of us have dared to believe. And if the Soviets are as desperate as the experts think, it could be less dangerous for all of us, if Reagan tempered his toughness with magnanimity. That's not news, but that too is reality. Evans has pointed out, and rightly so, that regional councillors, as individuals, tend to be more than supportive of projects and programs designed for their own municipality. However, while many politicians will treat this as a "motherhood issue" there is another side of the coin, a side that must be considered before the politicians lead us into revolution, demanding that the regional government be thrown to the wayside. One fact that must be established is that most municipalities, including Whitby, have always been part of a two-tier municipal government system. Before the region was created in 1974, Whitby was the seat of the County of Ontario. In fact, all of the eight municipalities in Durham Region, excluding the City of Oshawa, were mem- bers of either Ontario or Durham Counties. If the regional government is disbanded, would this signify a return to the days of county gover- nment? No politician has yet to cal for a return to that particular system. It is held here, that if regional and county government were compared, it would be more than evident that the former is the more effective level of government and provides a level of service that none of the eight municipalities could on their own, or experienced during the 100 years or so of county government. Regional government is a more politically aware level of government than the county ever was. If the regional system has done anything for its residents, it has made them aware of the needs and aspirations of their neighbours. This is something that the county never did. Regional government has been more effective in co-ordinating such important things as plan- ning, social services (welfare, homes for the aged, board* of health, etc.), policing, water and sewer services, roads, industrial development than the old county system everdid. Sure, there are many problems with regional government, problems that range f rom duplication of services to taxes to council representation. Did the county system provide a way to solve these problems? No, we do not think so. Evans's demand for the disbandment of the region was based on the rejection of the diversion sewer construction project. We do not believe that this alone is enough to call for the region's downfall. Is Evans suggesting that the Town of Whitby could do everything that the region presently does and provide the services that it does? We hope not, because the Town of Whitby could not afford to carry out these programs, it would bankrupt it- self in an amazingly short period of time. The strength of the region is found in the joint efforts of all eight of its municipalities to under- take those programs that they could not do alone. Could the Town of Whitby afford to build the diversion sewer on its own? No. Regional government also gives its eight mem- ber communities a great deal more political pull at the provincial level when it comes to getting gran- ts for all forms of needed projects and programs. None of the eight municipalities, whether it is Ajax, Pickering, Whitby, Oshawa, Newcastle, Brock, Scugog or Uxbridge, has that kind of pull on its own. The resident of Whitby and Durham is urged to be patient and remember that regional gover- riment is still in its infancy. Regional government has the potential to be an effective body and to provide for its citizens a level of service that their own municipality cannot provide. The next time that a politician tries to make political points by calling for the disbandment of the region, we should ask him if he has a viable alternative. if ~1 Iddmýýý - -lu