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go funding pits toronto against york lisa queen staff reporter york region mayors say local taxpayers should keep the 90 mil lion they will contribute to toron tos social costs this year if the city refuses to pay its share of go transit expenses v i think thats fair im getting a little sick and tired of some of the stuff coming out of toronto said richmond hill mayor bill bell who chairs the regions transporta tion committee youre not far wrong markham mayor don cousens added they were responding to news reports that toronto planners will release a report next month com plaining about the citys 23-mil- lion annual contribution to go the report will argue its unfair for toronto taxpayers to pay for a service they dont use but bell and cousens say york taxpayers are in the same boat because the province is forcing them to help pay for torontos social services york will contribute 92 million to toronto this year but have no influence over how that money is spent and while york taxpayers will pay an average of 50 to 100 extra this year toronto taxpayers are enjoying a tax freeze fine send us back our social money if you wont pay for go id be happy to be quoted on that bell said i for the most part go serves res idents from york peel halton and durham regions going to toronto for work sports and cultural events fiwith the province no longer funding go toronto is being asked to pay 499 per cent of gos 100million annual operating costs yorks share is 112 per cent which local politicians say is unfair because the region receives only four per cent of gos service peel will pay 156 per cent durham will pay 106 per cent and hamilton- wentworth will pay 31 percent toronto mayor mel lastman is outraged his city is picking up almost half of gos costs its the most ridiculous thing i have ever seen or heard in my entire life he told the toronto star here we are paying 100 per cent of the ttc and the 905 are paying nothing but their fare its costing us over 100 million above the fare to subsidize the ttc yet with go transit 85 per cent of the people who use it are from the 905 and beyond bell and cousens suggested lastman is griping as a way of get ting more money from queens park toronto received 150 mil lion in special loans and grants earlier this year after lastman complained about the impact provincial downloading will have on the city lastman just blusters and moans and complains and good things happen for toronto bell said maybe we should be crying and moaning and groaning too bell argued toronto benefits from go because its downtown office towers which pay huge property taxes to the city every year are filled with workers liv ing in the 905 communities if those businesses cant get their employees to work on a depend able transit system bell warned they could leave toronto primary french phased out jennifer brown staff reporter french in grades 1 to 3 will be phased out for york region public school students because the province will no longer fund the program rhe new provincial funding for mula eliminated grants for prima ry french forcing both the york public and separate boards to cfecide whether to keep the 40- minuteaday program fjthie separate board hasnt decid ed whether primary french will continue the public board will phase the program out over a threeyear period beginning with grade 1 this september i 4 mmhi the 40 minutes now dedicated to french each day will be added to other subjects superintendent jaimini randev said most boards dont offer core french in the primary grades introducing the subject in grade 4 when the north york board began offering 20 minutes a day in grade 3 a few years ago the con cept was eventually adopted local- ly the recommendation to phase out primary french was presented at the budget meeting tuesday night but nobody appeared to oppose the decision randev said those who do sup port the program can appear before a future meeting q the boatxl 3 1 lllllf iltu twt 2jit 414 8otjkt if the tribune tuesday may 261998 p 3 v glad days above ontario education minister david johnson presents a plaque to glad park public school principal walter chewchuk at the official opening of the school last thursday below from left at the glad park ribbon cutting are principal walter chewchuk student council president scott goldman school council cochair marg drudge director of the york region district school board bill hogarth trustee virginia hackson board chair bill crothers durhamyork mp julia munroe minister of education david johnson and area superintendant diane finlay photo by sjoerd witteveen radio repairs cost 500 k rick vanderlinde staff reporter they say lightning never strikes the same place twice but york regional police arent taking any chances last summer two of the forces radio antennas were knocked out after lightning struck a king town ship tower it was the first time in 25 years that lightning has crippled the forces radio transmissions i dont know if it was because of el nino or what but its never happened to us before insp bruce herridge said when the lightning struck radio transmissions were compromised for about two days while the anten nas were replaced the force plans to make sure it doesnt happen again by placing redundant antennas at a lower level on the tower if the top antennas are knocked out the others will take over its part of an overall plan to markham jboost the forcsdjlrijlljpjijj sion capabilities in the face of increased white noise in the atmosphere the market has been flooded with cellular phones and pagers and thats causing some noise- problems for us herridge said its not so bad that its violating federal standards but it is creat ing lowend noise an added problem is the proliferation of subdivisions in the police regions south end causing signals tjounce around 6 6 its not just skyscapers than can cause the problem herridge said lowlying buildings are a probv lem too about 500000 has been set aside in this years budget to fix the problem airport can fly if given the chance i from page 1 to the services and support avail able at buttonville rubin insisted he needs a chance to prove his case and said he cant understand why cousens would want to see an airport built in pick ering when it could be done in hes misguided dri owner wants us not to be here he said rubin said a go train runs through at far end of property so the rail line could bring in cargo or passengers from toronto 7 he is skeptical on plans for a pickering airport but argued if one is built eventually markham airport could be turned into a i