WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY. JULY 17, 1985, PAGE 5 "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranity over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson THE CROW'S NEST by Michael Knell Whitby needs another vuice After over a decade of existance, Oshawa City Council still hasn't come to grips with the fact that regional government is here to stay and that their municipal is its largest beneficiary. I've been covering Durham Regional Council for this newspaper for almost six years and if I've noticed anything at all its that Oshawa politicians are still using the region as a scapegoat for their own inadequacies. This point will come to light later this year as awareness grows concerning Bill 22 which bas been tabled in the Ontario Legislature. The thrust of this bill is a simple one - if passed and given Royal Assent both Whitby and Ajax will be allocated another seat on regional council. For those of us who hold dear the principle of "representation by population" this move is long overdue. But that doesn't mean that Oshawa won't fight it tooth and nail. Personally, unless regional council is going to be restructured then it is only fair and reasonable that both Whitby and Ajax receive an additional vote. When the region was formed in 1973, Oshawa was given il seats for a population of about 80,000. Whitby had three votes for a population of about 32,000 and Ajax two for 25,000 people. Despite the fact that the population of the region (especially in Whitby and Ajax) bas grown at a tremendous rate, this bas not been reflected in our representation at regional council. Currently, Oshawa bas il votes for a population of 115,000. Whitby bas three seats for 45,000 and Ajax two for 35,000. That hardly seems fair or equitable. While this imbalance isn't quite as noticable when council meets as a whole it becomes more than obvious at the committee level. And it is at that level where most of the work is done and where most of the hard decisions are made. For instance, the two most important committees of regional council are finance and planning. Finance because its the bottom line committee - it decides what our tax rates will be and how much next year's increase in the water and sewer rate will be. The importance of planning is more obscure but fundamental. Almost every major plan whether it be a proposed residential or industrial development must be approved by regional council under the Planning Act. Every municipality must seek regional approval for amendments to the official plan - the document that guides development everywhere in the region. On both of these committees, Oshawa bas a majority vote. In essence, they have the power to block needed development in other parts of the region to their own benefit. And this is where Oshawa's real power at the region is to be found. Proof of this can be found in the now defunct Brooklin expansion project. Politicians from Oshawa laid waste to this proposal. They fought it tooth and nail because they believed that it would have a detrimental impact on growth in their own community. In fact, throughout the entire process only one Oshawa representative (John DeHart) ever gave a measure of support. Few, if any, Oshawa politicians talk about what is good for the region as a whole. I have very rarely heard an Oshawa councillor stand on his feet and sup- port a project in another community "for the good of everyone in the region". They still view it has an evil to be destroyed rather than an opportunity to be siezed. I've heard many councillors for other communities remark that if such-and- such a proposal was located in Oshawa their representatives would be falling over themselves to support it. The recent hassle over the future of the regional headquarters buildings brought this remark from one regional councillor (Pl leave him unidentified): "If we were talking about moving it to Oshawa, they'd be demanding the sale of the building now." Instead of working with the rest of the region, it seems that Oshawa spends most of its time working against it. That means that if the new residents and taxpayers of Durham Region who live in Whitby and Ajax are to get fair and equitable representation at regional council, they need another voice. Either that or regional council must be restructured (Le. take seats away from Oshawa) to achieve the same end. Mayor Bob Attersley bas noted that a 30-member regional council is a bit "unwieldy". There are too many members making too much noise about mat- ters of unimportance. There are too many of them to make council a unified, working team. He bas a point. But, conversely, since the only fair means of representation is by population, then growth of regional council is a necessary realBty. The politics of municipal government is closer to the average citizen than that of the provincial or the federal government. After all, roads, water and sewer services, public transportation, homes for the aged, education, police and fire services, planning, parks and recreation as well as a host of other local services are the jurisdiction of our local councils. A resident won't call MPP George Ashe or MP Scott Fennell if he wants the potholes on his street fixed. He'll call his local councillor. If a resident needs to have a parent admitted to a home for the aged he'll call his regional councillor for assistance. So many of the day-to-day problems we faced in the community are the jurisdiction of our local council. It is to them we turn to get these problems resolved. Municipal politics is too important to be ignored. But when only 30 to 35 per cent of the people who turn out to vote on election day it is easy to surmise that most people don't hold this view. And that's unfortunate because they're the ones who suffer, and pay, for it in the end. WITH OUR FEET UP By Bill Swan Aproudpoppa speaks out We were sitting around the living room the other night, my wife and I and a family guest, watching television and reading magazines. Most of us were pretty relaxed. Except my wife, who once forbade me to write about her in any column. Wives, she once decreed, are like kids and pets: the columnist's last resort. So I don't write about kids, and wives, and pets, and instead write about fascinating things like market value assessment. As I was saying, most of us were relaxed. "Why," I asked her finally, "are you so restless?" "Because," she answered, "I am having a con- traction." When a woman nine months and a few days pregnant says she's having a contraction, it's hard to stay relaxed. "Let me know if they're regular," I said, turning back to Hill Street Blues, "and I'il time them." She took in a deep breath, followed by several shallow, short breaths, quietly, right out of the Lamaze handbook. We'd been taking lessons with a class of nine other couples in which we al sat around a living room with no furniture and prac- ticed breathing. "They're regular," she replied. "And here's another one." My watch said four minutes. Somebody must have read the wrong text book, since contractions start 20 minutes apart and work down. "It's nothing," she said. "Likely Braxton-Hicks (irregular pre-delivery contractions). They'll likely go away." So mild were these that shortly we went to bed. No telling, I said, how long this might go one. We better get all the rest we can. She arched an eyebrow, but trundled off to bed. An hour later I was awakened. "It's time, " she said... I am no novice. My youngest daughter, now living in Hamilton with her mother, will turn 18 in August. A son will be 21 in October. I have another daughter, 19. My step-son is 16 and six foot one. We've been through this before. But in those bad old days the role of father in the birthing process was limited to sitting by the bed- side for a while, saying there, there, and watching the nurses come and go. Dad was then banished to the waiting room, there to wade knee deep in cigarette butts, alone, a pathetic figure and butt of many jokes. The baby was then 'delivered', a process similar to waiting for parcel post. Afterward, a nurse would present Dad with a bundle of blankets and unravel it, like peeling an onion. Dad would count fingers and toes, make a few phone calls and go home to bed. Anyway: it being time, we headed for the hospital. The plan included our using the 'birthing room, sort of like a home delivery in the hospital. And we came prepared, with focal points, lunch, in- struction manual, and camera. (We forgot the pillows.) My job throughout labor is to stay calm, be com- pany, to help focus attention on relaxation through contractions. Twenty years ago we didn't do this. Back then we fretted, smoked, the mother screamed in agony, they knocked the mother on the head to kill the pain. And then the stork came. Later, Dad would go home for some pain killer of his own. So we came prepared as for a siege. Mentally, I was geared up for at least 12 hours, perhaps up to 20. We didn't need it. Seventy minutes after we arrived at the hospital, I stood gripping my wife's CONT'D ON PG. 8