The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

16 stouffville suntribune thursday jan 13 2005 regions 500000 tsunami donation simply wrong region of york politicians have donated a halfmil lion dollars on your behalf to victims of the south asian tsunami it was a nice thing to do and it was the wrong thing to do wrong for many reasons on many levels but most of all because its not their money the dec 26 devastation was horrific the suffering unthinkable and the hundreds of thousands of victims clearly deserve the worlds help but york region politicians so urgently felt the need to add to that they have already wired 500000 based on chairperson bill fischs informal telephone poll of other councillors mind you not of voters local taxpayers so inclined could already donate online by phone or by mail yet york politicos figured either a you were too stupid to figure out how to give or b you were too cheap to give so theyd better do it for you but foreign aid is one area thats pretty clean the federal government is responsible and our federal government has apparently kept its finger on the pulse of the nation over the past two weeks successively promising 1 million 4 million 40 million 80 million then 425 million and whatever it takes in fact canadas regular foreign aid spending is pitiful compared to many other nations not least the always maligned united states but voters last year returned the liberals presumably approving of their performance government confiscation of your money through taxes and re direction to the recipient of its choice is not charity it is wealth redistribution and doing so outside the municipality is not within the regions mandate thats the philosophical argu ment the practical issues are r2s3ti jsg mmk ijp- pi tlllfl j jpifr sp ltwi x wm v j hil p i v w m bruce annan worse among the dozens of agencies helping in asia york chose to give 375000 to the red cross and 125000 to world vision whose canadian vicechairperson is markham mayor don cousens well god bless worldvision and mayor don but when the next cri sis occurs well quickly find out which politicians are affiliated with other groups you did it for don now do it for me and we didnt have to wait long for the next outthrust hand newmarket mayor tom taylor has already pointed out charity begins at home seeking 22 million for a homeless shelter as tragic as are recent events in south asia one wonders where was york region when hundreds of thousands were starving in sudan or after earthquakes in iran or china why this international crisis and why now well its all over the news you see and as nature abhors a vacu um politicians abhor news without their names and faces and york boys are quick to offer the usual bulletproof rationale were one of the worlds most mul ticultural regions unlike those ungenerous homogeneous regions in say newfoundland indeed york seems to be the only major canadian municipality where politicians are giving a signif icant sum to tsunami relief before cutting a cheque for 100000 kingston city council found time to actually publicly debate the donation according to the local newspaper they backed down in the face of taxpayer oppo sition probably not multicultur al enough stratford on council con tributed 2500 of public money but the mayor is also donating a week of his own salary proving again its the behaviour of 90 per cent of politicians that gives the other 10 per cent a bad name meanwhile back in york markham regional councillor jim jones not to appear stingy with other peoples cash would have preferred to give a full 1 million we shouldnt even have to think about it thats about a buck per res ident mr jones said they didnt think about it why should they its not their money york region resident bruce annan is a writer and consultant yiiiuinniiniu noma mi min ii mniutium bpheoi pnbtly dny family day is looking for caregivers in the markham village area kateri tekakwithareesor park ps free training resources offered receive support from a licensed agency we handle all accounting marketing develop a child care business in your own home for information 4169223434 call now www familydaycare com j j advertising feature che cmerald isfc jls w nnnouncino jan 15th 2005 our 1 st annual m sftv 1 we all remember the good old days when an extra large pizza was an extra large pizza well at franks pizza you get what you order and thats nothing but good- sized pizza and tasty dishes with full authentic flavour with 22 years experience behind it this delightful familyowed operated business has reopened in the old joes pizza on musselmans lake and is providing excellent service by takingpride in the fact that all their original familymade recipes are created fromscratch right onsite they also extend superfriendly service to all their customers which keeps them coming back and offer a free delivery option for resi dents of whitchurchstouffville and goodwood which keeps them orderingout franks pizza also caters all sorts of occa sions so be sure to call bessie and ask about booking your function regular specials are offered weekly such as 995 for and 18 extra large pizza wow does it get any better than that call and findout this weeks specials or simply stop in and say hi everyone should take the time to try our sicilian pizza too its great says owner bessie so whether you stopby on the way home or orderout on a wintry night the whole family at franks pizza are there to serve you and fill your stomachs with amazing homemade food franks pizza is located at 14635 ninth linemusselmans lake stouffville 9056407317 angela joe bessie frank spataro 7 118 4 m customer appreciation night our way of saying thanks to you stouffvile for a year full of friends food and fun in 2004 enjoy free food samples of many of our delicious appetizers pub fare and fine cuisine live music a night from a showcase of local artists special inhouse promotions and giveaways dont miss this gem we invite everyone to join us this saturday evening at the emerald isle for a night full of sweet sounds savory food and good times 6298 main st stouffville 905 6422122 after 700 pm inventory clearance 25 off storewide discover our experteas 35 flavours of premium loose leaf teas gift shoppe only tempest in a tea gift shoppe luncheon tea room 6308 main street stouffville 905 6408787 ling association i we can help for more information about asthma call the lung association this message brought to you as a community service of the economist sun