t ~L TT R ThA';sab u provincialAfiD1 UjOêOS, FbUy8/9 To the. Editeit 1 arn responding te a rocent column written by the federal Consorvative moniber for the riding of Durhama and carried by the Whitby Fr". Press on Jan. 13. My usual exporience of Mr. Stevenson is ot a man who tries te, roprosent hie constituonts te the rather unfeeiing foderal Conservative government. I was quite disappointed te see bis attempt te, justify the savaging of our area and te, abandon the traditional responsibilities et a Canadian federal governinent. Mr. Stevenson is, in'fact, a former provincial Conservative MEPP. Hie government was nover faced with the low transfer payrnents that weare facod with and, despite that, bis government had rnuch higher tax and spendling increases. Surely ho should recali bis OMn rosponsibility as a provincial minister and realize how devastating a $4-billion shorttal ovey year is for basic services. AlIow me te, repeat some basic facts about our provincial costs. First, cour' latest provincial budget had the lowest increase in spending since 1952. Ini the area of hoalth spending, for example, there has been a 1.6 per cent incroase in sending while, over the last decade, the average increase was il per cent. It is exceedingly difficuit te maintain these controls whlo the seniors, tihe vulnerablo and the i11 have very real and very presing needs. Remember that 46 cents of every federal dollar cornes from Ontarie and only 30 cents is spent hors in Ontario. Ask any business porson bow long their business would survive at that rate of return. Even botter, ask a toderal Conservative how well served we are by that level et roturn on our tax monies. Net only is the federal governrent intent upen destroying our industrial heartland by their plicies, but they are aise etarving it te death. Ask them how much the govermnennt that they represent je serving the interests et Ontario. These are difficuit times due te the recession, but that recession has been moat keenly feit, in Ontario as our industry bas been devastated by free trade and the high-interest policies of the tederal government. At the same time, the federal govorrnment has cut back on the proportion of monies tint it sonds for vital local services. Whore, traditionally, the federal govermoent paid half et the cost of schos, medical cars and social services, they now pay e1 than ono-third. OnlyAlberta and British Columbia have been irilarly irnpoverished by federal policies, but they do flot h ave our severe manufacturing job lasses. Provincial minietries have had te, reduce.their internai oxpenses and increase their transfers te, municipalities, universitios, schoole and hospitals by oniy email amounts. When vital local services are net able te, keep Up wi«th demanda, remember that the federal governmoent would rather spend $4. billion on helicopters or equal billions on Hfibornia'e overpriced oil than on hospitais or sehools. Evory expenditure should be scrutinzod and savings ehouid b. equitable. I think that we have been able te, do a good job in rnaintaining essential services d'uring these difficult times. Whon next you bear of hespitai cutbacks or schois' shortages, think how' Ontario has to maintain those services whiie receivlng rnuch bs as a proportion of their costs than has ever been the case before. Perhaps, residents couid rernind their foderal reprosen- tatives of the essential neods of our province and how their very rosi siashes have affected residonts personally. Drummond White Durham Centre MPP JIM BAINARD (right), president of the Whitby Christian Non-profit Housinq Corp., receives a commemorative plaque from Ontario riding MP Rene Soetens during the Jan. 29 'officiai' opening of Harvesi Place, a complex of 85 apartments and townhouses for families and senior citi- zens, at Rossland and Brock. The $1 1.3 million cost of the building is being met with a morigage loan amortized over 35 years from a private lender. Federal and provincial governiment annual subsidies for the project total $1 .3 million. Photo by Peter Tomblin. Free Pres Grant spelis relief for sohool board The Durhamn separate schoel beard has received $824,617 from the province te, help relieve the coet of board building pro- jecte in recent years. Known as an "undue burden» grant, the one-time funding rec- egnizes the heavy tax burden relatd te the pr eets. "We thank th)e minister (of education) for his recognition of the serieus financial problerne bain g faced by this board» says Whitby trustes Tom Oldrnan, chair et the separate beard. In 1993, the Durham separate school beard projects debanture p ayments et more than $4.3 mil- lion -- compared te paymente et $664,391 in 1986. Mereever, debentures will aise be needed for 1993 and 1994 preets, including four new 00hoo0. (One et the new echools expec- ted te ba started is a new facility fer Ecole secondaire catholique Saint-Charles-Garnier -- pro- posed for the Lynde Shores area.) Debenture payments soared in recent years after a surge ot new housing developments, requiring new schools and echool additions, in the region and an accompany- ing increase in tax requirements te support the local shjare for the related site purchase and build- ing costs. The Durham board is oe of three echool boards in Ontario "identified as bearing a local tax effort for approved capital pro- jects greater than six times the provincial effort." The tires boards qualify for the "undue burden" grant. Qidman says ho aise loeks Lucie Rochette CHARLES GARNIER forward te the introduction et the gvernment te previde more well as by other low assesarnent apromised finance referme" by funds needed by the beard as beards in Ontario. Bonjour! The second semester has begun hors at Garnier. A new semester means, et course, new classes, new books and new teachers. Speaking et new teachers, welceme to, Mlle Kimi Haarsma, the iatest addition te the growing Garnier teacher tamily. As I teid you at week, tiers was a slight ehuffleienathe toaching staff, dgue to the tact that our librarian is now vice-principal at Corpus-Christi. Welcome back te Mme Faubert. She's back ainong us afler her maternity leave when she took carset the Faubert's newborn (welI, August-born) son, Samuel. Se now the husband (M. Faubert) and wite (Mme Faubert) teaching tearn is complote again. Aise, the othor M. Faubert and hie wite had a baby boy et their own, Sacha, toward the end et September. Last week, M. Tailion and bis wife increased their famiiy as well, with the birth et their second daughter, Karine. Congratulations te ail the members et the teaching staff with brand new babies. It's a FrenchOCanadian tradition te celebrate the winter carnival around this time. As a matter et tact, the Carnaval d'Hiver is coming up, along with La Semaine Culturelle Canadienne Francaise (French- Canadian Culture Week). Ill have more on that next week. I hope you ail have a great second sernester, mes amis. Try te, forget that report carda are coming (any day now). A la prochaine. DAVID BOWER was the Town Crier at a Glen Dhu public schiool Jan.25 'Medieval Feasi' held by grade 4 students at P«eto