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6 economist sun stoufiville tribune thursday oct 28 1999 stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper 37 sandiford dr suite 306 stounville ont l4a 7x5 publisher- ian proudfoot general manager- alvin brouwer editorinchief advertising director business manager brenda larsdn deputy editor debora kelly editor alan shackleton debra welter retail manager stephen mathieu classified manager ann campbell margaret fleming office manager vivian oneil distribution director barry goodyear editorial gilchrists resignation should not kill plans housing and municipal affairs minister steve gilchrists departure from premier mike harris cabinet wont go unnoticed in york region in fact the very scandal that precipitated the end of his tenure in the front benches of thelegis- lature may very well have its roots in the rolling hills of the region after only four months the rookie minister bowed to intense political pressure to resign from his seat last weekend while the opp investigates allegations of wrongdoing while gilchrist continues to maintain he has done nothing wrong developers complained to harris office last month that gilchrist had told them access to him could only be obtained through his personal lawyer peter pfoszanski prior to gilchrist stepping down it was revealed environment minister tony clement had already taken over the oak ridges moraine file this move led to speculation that gilchrist had been set up by developers who were dismayed he hadnt been rubberstamping their plans to change the face of the moraine faced with development plans every way they turn our municipal politicians and planners have v been beseeching the province to take some mea- sures on the moraine to absolutely no avail for some time now tories wash hands of moraine when the ndp led the government in 1994 the moraine was the focus of a position paper which has graced a dusty shelf since then harris government seems to have washed its hands of the matter neither providing funding nor power by legislation to halt development york peel and durham regions have drawn up longterm strategies to protect the moraine but they can do little without the province has york region lost a knight in green armour who at last was making a move to protect the moraine while the question of who heads the ministry should have no bearing on how these environmen tally sensitive lands are developed york region could obviously benefit by having not so much an ally but simply a representative to nudge the province into finally taking some action on this issue gilchrists resignation will also have another impact in the region the mellowed but firm harris emissary of amal gamation made it very clear recently that restruc turing will occur in york region as long as a tory government rules the land amalgamation lethargy he was able to prompt our regional and munic- ipal governments out of their quarrelsome lethargy finally we have seen some movement on an issue that until last month had only resulted in a lot of parochial tail chasing newmarket has initiated a study on the amalga mation of the regions six northern municipalities while vaughan has hired a consultant whose pre- liminary report indicates asignificant amount of duplication of services it would beatragedytb see- this impetus dissi pate gilchrist had made strides in a portfolio laden with difficult issues y its essential the ministrys initiatives dont lapse during gilchrists investigation which must be done efficiently and expeditiously opinion letters to the editor humane society follows wildlife release standards in response to a letter from the town of whitchurchstouffville the toronto humane society has gathered the fol lowing information to assure area resi dents that the toronto humane society follows the ministry of natural resources standards in all aspects of our wildlife care the ministrys standards for a wildlife custodian are 1 a wildlife custodian shall not release rehabilitated wildlife on private property without obtaining written per mission from the landowner prior to release 2 the wildlife custodian shall release raccoons regardless of their age when captured within one kilometre of the original capture location or shall eutha nizethem 3 rehabilitated orphaned raccoons may be released beyond the one kilome tre range set above if the ministry is noti fied and has approved in advance of the release the toronto humane societys wildlife rehabilitation unit has not released any raccoons in 1999 thesociety is awaiting approval from the ministry to release orphaned rac coons now in the care of the society all raccoons that are i released are vac cinated against distemper and rabies and there 16 raccoons awaiting release- bythesociety the society will only release four to six raccoons at a time and the society does not release on farmland because of the nuisance raccoons bring also the society has a form that is filled out by property owners prior to the release of any wildlife i hope this assures residents that the society takes its wildlife custodian duties very seriously and would never put the welfare of the animals or the people in jeopardy jackslibar chief operating officer toronto humane society lions club says thanks to its many supporters the markham lions club would like to thank the community on behalf of ourselves and the more than 40 antique vendors at our annual show held from sept 17 to 19 we would also like to thank every body who supported our food booth at the markham fair oct 1 to 4 with your help we raised more than 20000 from these two fundraisers the money will be used to support many sightrelated and community- related projects your donations do make a difference to the community thank you for helping us to help oth ers dick peel president markham lions club dave teetzel politicians could stall gta powerhouse the greater toronto area could soon be a powerful city region a trading powerhouse that dwarfs the province in influence k course the tower of babel could have been the worlds tallest freestand ing structure and look how that worked out thomas courchene an economics professor at queens university told a conference in los angeles that the gta accounts for half of ontarios gross domestic product and 20 per cent of canadas gdp no city region in the united states can claim that big a share of its national economy but what looks like an economic ferrari from behind the ivycovered walls of a kingston university may be a jerryrigged pinto from the inside and this pinto isnt going to get to the promised land envisioned by the good professor so long as there are a few dozen drivers arguing over who gets the wheel and who pays for gas this pinto wont get to the promised land with a few dozen drivers arguing for control courchene says torontos emergence as a city region will require massive public and private sector investment in infrastructure that means somebody has to spend money on roads and pipes and services all the big ticket items that have been downloaded by the province courchene says the toronto area needs more flexibility in spending and- revenues recent provincial legislation has taken away that flexibility from local budgets and he says the entire gta must become a single city the closest thing we have to a gta government is the greater toronto services board and that pinto has been spinning its wheels for almost a year without advancing an inch in short if the gta is to become a global city region local politicians must get cooperation from the province and from each other that doesnt change the fact business has gravitated to the toronto area and has done very well so long as the gta offers reasonable tax rates a decent transportation network and a skilled labour force industry will thrive turning this area into the independent econom ic goliath described by courchene all our four levels of government have to do isnot screw it up stoimeffibuhe serving the community since 1888 tie stoufmletriburie 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