PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY. JULY 22. 1981. WHITBY FREE PRESS ~ whitby Voice of the County Town Michael Ian Burgess, Publisher-. Managing Editor ii rc tet~rh eetI n a hrPublished every Wednesday byM..M ublishing aind Photography Inc. Phone 669-611il The Free Press fluildine Voic oftheCouny Twn ichel ln Brges, Pbliher- Mnagig Eito IL1:11 Brock Strieet Nor .th, n'e only Wýýhitbyý newspaper independently owned and operated by %Whitbyl residents for whitby residents. P.O. Box 206. Whitby, O g, )nt. MICHAEL J. KNELL Community Editor MARJORIE A. BURGESS Advertising Manager Mailing Permit No 480 Member of the Whitby Chamber of Commerce Why isn'tGOgoing anywhere? Everyone agrees that It should be done. The Premier of Ontario is a f irm believer in it, as are the mayors of Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa as well as the Durham Regional Chairman. Ali four of the region's members of parliament think it is a good idea, so do the region's four members of the Ontarlo Legislature, one of whom is a cabinet member. The question, therefore, remains: why hasn't it been done? Alil of these gentlemen have said that GO Tran- sit's rail service should be extended eastward from Its present terminus at Pickering through Ajax and Whitby into Oshawa. The benefits of such an extension are numerous and well-publicized, even obvious so that to re-state them here is not necessary. However- these politically well-connected and even powerful gentlemen have not been able to have this much needed service extended for the benefit of all residents of Durham Region. Thank-you Dear Sir: On behalf of the Volunteer Associa- tion of Durham Centre for the Developmentally Handic-apped, I would lîke to thank the Free Press for their generous publicity given to our recent Cut-a- thon. We realized a profit of $715 which will be put to the in- stallation of a wading pool for the mentally retarded residents of the Durham Centre. Special thanks to the volunteer hair stylists of Hair Fashions, Fair Lady, Hair Lines, Hair Studio, Maria's Hair Fashion, Guida & Dino Institute of Beauty & Princess Coiffures. Joan Shauvel, V.A. D.C. Kinsmen Club didn't hold beer tent Dear Sir: The Brooklin and District Kinsmen Club would like to take this oppor- tunity to thank all citizens of Whitby and Brooklin District for their loyal support of our projects in the past. At the same time, the Brooklin and District Kinsmen Club would like to make it publicly known that we had absolutely no in- volvement with the 1981 Brooklin Spring Fair Beer Tent. It is our intention to serve the Com- munity's greatest needs in the future with the en- thusiasm and good taste that we have displayed in the past. We feel that our club is only as strong as the com- munity in which it serves, and we ask your continued support in the future. Yours truly, T. Appleby Secretary Brooklin and District Kinsmen Club. The snag seems to appear to be found in the Canadian National Railway, a federal Crown corp- oration that not only operates the GO rail service, but owns the track on which it runs. Over the course of the last two or three weeks Regional Chairman Gary Herrema and Ontario riding MP Scott Fennell have accused the CNR of delaying the extension for their own purposes. Fennell went as far as to accuse the federal government of not taking an interest in the project because there is no Liberal member of the House of Commons from this area. Whether or not this is a fact is not presently known and cannot be fairly commented on by this publication. However, this newspaper firmly believes that the extension of the GO Transit rail service would be of great benefit to the people of the Town of Whitby and would call upon all parties involved to cease their politicking and get on with the job. - According to many sources, the delay is being caused by CN's desire to have the Toronto Area Transit Operating Authority (TATOA), the operators of GO Transit, construct a new line for the extended service at their own cost and then turn it over to CN. The estimated cost of this project is $50 million. Should GO construct this line, it would become the property of CN who would then have the authority to tell the service when it could use the line and under what conditions it would be used. If this is, indeed, the case then CN's position is unfair because it would reap the financial benefits of the line without having to pay for it. *A more equitable situation would be that ail par- ties involved share in the capital cost burden and all share in the benefits of the extended service. One point that should be made is CN is not totally responsible for the present situation. Responsibility for the current dispute must also rest with many local politicians who fought the idea of a GO Transit extension when it was first proposed a few years ago. At that time, the local politicians feared that the GO extension would turn this part of Durham Region into a bedroom community for Metropoli- tan Toronto. It seems that with the passage of time, this view has fallen by the wayside and the same elected representatives are demanding the service be in- troduced. Their tune has changed because the region has not experienced the industrial development that was hoped for and are now taking the position that an extended GO service would be a boost for growth. However, it seems to us that the positions being taken by ail sides are not flexible and the only ppople suffering because of It are the residents of this part of the Durham Region. The federal government should be taking an in- terest in the issue because they are responsible to all Canadians not just to those that elected Liberal members of the House of Commons. Canadian National should become more co- operative with TATOA and both of whom should seek a middle ground with which they both can live. This issue will only be kept alive as long as there are individual citizens, organizations and political bodies willing to see it done. The political concerns should be set aside so that a much needed service can be used by a greater number of people for the benefit of the en- tire community. It is not a matter of who is at fault, but whether or not everyone involved is willing to see GO Rail extended.