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economist suntribune thursday dec 12 2002 stouffville tribune serving the community since 1888 a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave stouffville ont l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot editorial money obviously is in education system time to get on track finally some good news from the province about education premier ernie eves has endorsed the report on funding released this week by mordechai rozanski calling for an injection of about 2 billion into the public education system taking a cue from the many school admin istrators who appeared at the task force hear ings mr rozanski has made it clear present levels of funding are inadequate pointing out special education and student transportation needs immediate attention mr rozanski also said the government should pro vide money for teacher salary increases while quibbling with the price tag mr eves has acknowledged increasing teacher salaries is a necessity with about 80 per cent of school board budgets allocated to salaries a key issue has been the teacher salary grid the provinces grid provides rates lower than those paid by most boards including those in york region since the establishment of the funding formula four years ago a single increase of 195 per cent has been provided that imbalance has distorted virtually every aspect of me funding formula the boards have been left in the untenable situation of picking the pockets of programs such as special education and english as a sec ond language to pay its teachers its a situation that needs to be addressed immediately since many school boards across the province face negotiations this year the report however isnt a condemnation of tory education policy as was pointed out during the consulta tions by some school boards including the york region district school board the funding formula itself for the most part works the formula pays a flat amount for each pupil replacing the previous method of relying on school board levies with the funding benchmarks adjusted to more realistic levels its a formula that may now be able to reach its premise of equity mr rozanski however did caution some flexibility is required to deal with the unique situations faced by some school boards a factor the tories have also had to come to terms with when it comes to funding hospitals mr rozanski has suggested the tories be given three years to adjust the benchmarks yesterday mr eves responded by increasing special education funding of 250 million a year if he is looking for places to find the money he could cancel the tax break for parents who send their children to private schools certainly the tories could cut the ties to highpriced consultants draining millions from the provincial coffers as pointed out by the provincial auditor the province needs to get back to the black board me money obviously is there any more dawdling is unacceptable opinion letters to the editor too much stouffville development my family and i are concerned that all the numerous developments proposed for stouffville will make it anything but country close to the city with a projected population of more than 40000 we will be a small city we will lose our friendly community and that smalltown atmosphere so many residents came here to get away from scarborough or even markham away from horrendous traffic increasing crime pol luted air and cramped housing we know there has to be growth but why does it have to be so massive and so rapid before anyone has had a chance to assess its impact on the town we know developers want to earn their mil lions and quickly go on to pave over the next small town but why do their wishes overrule the aspirations of residents the lifestyle of all the citizens of stouffville is in jeopardy we are asking that development be slowed down and carefully monitored before any irreparable damage is done sigkusatz stouffville garrett big asset to york region re lastman fingers york cao dec 5 not surprisingly toronto mayor mel lastman under intense scrutiny by mfp the economist sunstouffville tribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the economist suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 9 heritage rd markham l3p 1m3 email letterseconsuncom inquiry lawyers so typically attempts to shift the blame from elected officials on to staffs shoul ders namely the thentoronto chief aolrnin- istrative officer mike garrett when the comput er deal with mfp financial services soured while the inquirys outcome cant be predict ed one thing is certain at the inquiry mr garrett now york regions cao displayed the qualities of integrity and professionalism that won him the respect of city of toronto staff i worked for the city of toronto and while i did not report to mr garrett directly over a period of three years i came to realize very quickly the calibre of person he was regional chairperson bill fisch notes mike garrett came to us with the highest reputation across the gta in terms of ability and integrity i wholeheartedly concur with mr fisch regional politicians would be well advised to maintain a favourable working relationship with mr garrett who has the inherent abilities and dedication to hard work that will make them look good norm gibbons unionville editorial editor m mason newsroomeconsuncom advertising retail sales manager steve kane stevekyorkregiancom sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews dandreivserabamiercom classified manager ann campbell anncerabannercom managing director real estate mike rogerson mrogerson yorkregioncom production electronic communications manager john futhey jfittheyyrngcom distribution distribution manager barry black bblackeconsuncom administration office manager vivian oneil voneiieconsuncom york region events managing director debra weller dwelleryrngcom shows manager staceyallen sallenyrngcom york region printing general manager bob dean bdeanyrngcom editorial 9052942200 fax 2941538 advertising 2942200 classified 1-800- 7433353 fax 8531765 distribution 9052948244 canadian ontario press circulations audit council board member stoufmle tribune a york region newspaper group community newspaper hie stouffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thomhiil vaughan citizen markham economist sun stouffville tribune stouffville sun georgina advocate york region business times at home good life yorkregion com and york region printing editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director marketing new product development brenda larson advertising director retail flyer sales nicole mathieu advertising director classified real estate events management gord paolucci dave teetzel q mpps cave in to firefighters union ueens park has defeated legis lation that would have helped the regions smaller towns the volunteer firefighters employment protection act would have prevented unions from dis ciplining firefighters for volunteering in their off hours the private members bill combats a policy of the international association of fire fighters that could decimate the vol unteer ranks in york regions smaller communities the union forbids full- time firefighters from providing fire pro tection or emergency medical services on a volunteer reserve or partpaid basis if a firefighter is caught breaching that policy the union can take away his card in many districts you cant be a firefight er unless you are a union member there are quite a few firefighters who work in toronto but live in small york region communities that cant afford a fulltime fire department so they depend on volunteers the professionals help protect their home community thereby running afoul of their union last spring the toronto local demanded seven vvtiitchiirchstoufrville volunteer firefighters quit it was an enormous concern in a town with only 54 firefighters all but six of whom are vol unteers at the time half ofwhitchurch- stouffvilles volunteers had fulltime fire- fighting jobs elsewhere no wonder local mpp frank klees was in the thick of mondays almost unprecedented fivehour debate over the private members bill the principle that is at stake here in this debate is do people in this province have a right to work at a job that they choose to work at without mrjmidation by a union by an organization whether that be a political party whether that be a labour union whether that be an associ ation mr klees said during the debate the answer apparently is no and that leaves very little hope for david juby mr juby is a fulltime toronto fire fighter and a parttime paramedic work ing from the concord station which houses both firefighters and paramedics a vaughan firefighter ratted mr juby out to the union which has given him 30 days to quit being a paramedic or lose his union card and his firefighting job now the vaughan firefighters associa tion has good reason to be touchy on this issue because the city still uses a volun teer fire department in kleinburg theres no way a city with the population and wealth ofvaughan should get away with providing a rural standard of service to any of its residents this is a good indica tion of why the association has this rule but there is absolutely no merit to the argument the association is protecting jobs by interfering with mr jubys right to work parttime