WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, MARCII 18, 1981, PAGE Il Council I Column New thrust towards industrial expansion By REGIONAL COUNCILLOR GERALD S. EMM Chairman, Regional Public Works Committee After seeing a dwindling in our growth over the last few years (Whitby has faired better than some others in the region) a new thrust is being directed towards industrial ex- pansion. During 1980, the Town of Whitby received a traumatie shock at the closing of Firestone, one of our leading corporate citizens. We have, however, been greatly relieved at the an- nouncement that General Motors would take over the vacant plant for their overseas opera tions. It is of significant interest to note that General Motors is fast becoming one of our leading corporate citizens. To date, they have two operations in Whitby. One at the Whitby Mall and another at Thickson Road in the industrial park. When General Motors gets the Firestone plant fully operational, it will mean that this plant and their other two operations will be approximately 500,000 square feet in Whitby and the need for more job opportunities. Other manufacturing enterprises are showing excitement in Whitby and already this year projections for the first three months of 1981 exceed all the building constructed in 1980. (Industrial and commercial $7 million in 1980.) As regional works chairman, I can report that my commit- tee has recommended and received council's approval for reconstruction of the Thickson Road interchange ramps. This will greatly assist the traffic going to and from our in- dustrial park and will be the start of the reconstruction of the 401-Thickson bridge. The region has received back-up support from the Town of Whitby for the replacement of the Brock Street South CNR bridge and a strong request is being made for assistance from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. This bridge will have to be replaced before any double GO Transit train can proceed east of Pickering. It is interesting to note that building permits issued for new residential units by type in Whitby were in 1980: Single, detached 241 Semi, detached 82 Row housing 2 Apartments 20 Total 345 This total represents 25.8 per cent off units in the Region of Durham for 1980. Pssst... Want to lease a Rabbit? Lease one of our 1980 company cars. Example • 1980 Rabbit, 2-door, PND 163, 36 month net lease, 72,000 kil limit, $164.40 per month. OWASCO VOLtSWAGEN tD Whitby oshawa 1425 DUNDAS ST. E., Hwy 2 t WHITBY -- 1 6889383Toronto lIne 361-1128 Hwy 401 Health council to protest budget cuts At a special meeting held recently in Whitby, District Health Council members called for a meeting with the Durham Region Board of Health to discuss the 1981 budget cut. Concern was expressed that the Board had reversed an earlier decision to expand some services to conform to Regional budget guidelines. In addition, the board had directed health unit staff to cut out any new core programs which would be required under the proposed Health Protection Act to become law sometime this year. Mick Peters, council executive director, informed the council that by chopping the budget to save $90,000 of local taxpayers money, the effect was to cut off some $270,000 funding from the province. The province pays 75 per cent of the cost of programs operated by the health unit. Councillor Bill McLean, Mayor of Ajax, indicated that by withholding funding this year it would be even more difficult to catch up to provincial guidelines for programs next year. The Region of Durham contributes approximately 3 per cent of its budget to public health or $650,000. In terms of per capita spending, the region is 36th lowest of 43 health units in the province. "With the new cutbacks we'll soon reach the bottom of the pile," said Peters. Durham Region is one of the few areas in the province which has no nutrition coun- selling service and is currently some 20 public health nurses short based on the provincial guideline. New district health coun- cil member, Alan Wells (Uxbridge) said, "I am con- cerned that in these times of high unemployment, welfare recipients and those with limited incomes cannot even get basic nutrition counselling services to enable them to make wise food choices on restricted budgets that would provide adequate nutrition to their families." The district health council hopes to meet with the board of health prior to the budget submission going to Regional Council today. The cutbacks proposed by the staff have been approved by both the board of health and the region's finance commit- tee. BARRY L. EVANS. 8 A LL Barrister & Solicitor WISHES TO ANNOUNCE THAT EFFECTIVE MARCH 1. 1981 HE WILL CONTINUE THE PRACTICE OF LAW AS A SOLE PRACTITIONER. WITH OFFICES AT SUITE 204. LANG TOWER WHITBY MALL 1615 DUNDAS STREET EAST WHITBY. ONTARIO L1N 2L1 Telephone (416) 433-1200 1