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c- iw t i- t tr f jrrf economist sunsuntribune saturday may 7 2005 sunlribune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stouflville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director production inreractlve media john futhey advertising director distribution director market1ng7partnerships retail flyer sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gordpaolucci circulation barry black director circulation systems lynn pashko director debraweller york region printing general manager bob dean letters to the editor religion too sensitive for newspaper cartoons re cartoon april 23 this very unkind caricature was insulting to our late pontiff john paul ii the cobwebs on the wheels of the poperhobile to our newly elected pope benedict xvi and to all who cher- ishtheir catholic faith your papers have been a great source of local news and information to us since we moved to stouffville 35 years ago through the years youve always been very respectful toward the reli gious beliefs of those living in the area and we ask that you do the same for us now the roman catholic church is not a political organization that can change according to the popular beliefs of the secular world or the times while some of the more superficial customs and traditions can and have evolved through the years we believe there are certain intrinsic truths and val ues that cant be changed even by a new pope perhaps some subjects are just too sensitive to be trivialized by a cartoon in a newspaper sig teresa kusatz stouffville dead dog in no mans land re dog left to die with slashed throat april 28 i am the person who found the dog and had him die in my arms just as i got him to the vet someone had slit the poor ani mals throat as you reported my first thought on finding the dog was to call animal control as my thoughts were that these people helped animals my mistake this incident took place literally one block east of the whitchurch- stouffville animal control border in durham region i tried to get the dog help through these channels as well as police and was turned down and given the runaround several of these animal control people admitted to me they were only a few minutes away but were unable to cross the border all these people were told the dog was bleeding out and that we didnt have much time i got everything from i am sorry but i cant go one block past my bor der if this is an emergency call the police to not getting any answers on the phone i believe this is a disgusting way for the system that cares for animals to operate i tried to recall these agencies to find out why we were unable to get help and again got the royal runaround they did nothing whatsoever probably costing the life of this help less animal mike hall claremont sharing gas tax will help cities environment fficial or not it seems our federal politicians are in fullon election- eeringmode right now whatever they say and do is being watched very carefully by their opponents and the media everything is put through an election filter to see how what is being said hasbeen designed to win more votes unfortunately that also means even announcements or decisions long in the mak ing are being treated as election fodder so when prime minister paul martin was in vancouver recently to announce a joint agree ment on the transfer of a percentage of gas taxes back to cities it was reported as simply a case of the federal government shovelling money off the back of a truck to distract voters from the gomery inquiry and thafs neither accurate nor fair agreements between levels of government in this country are not exactly easy to come by federal provincial and municipal govern ments often jealously guard tlieir jurisdictions from any perceived encroachment and since jurisdictions often overlap it can create real david suzuki problems when priorities differ thats why the announcement in vancouver was such good news here we had the union of british columbia municipalities which represents cities and towns the province of british columbia and the federal government all agreeing on a budget item no jess the item was the promised return of a por tion of the federal gas tax back to cities according to the agreement the union will receive five cents of the 10cent perlitre tax last week the deal got even better when mr martin and ndp leader jack layton agreed to add an extra cent to the agreement what does this mean for bc municipali ties it means they will now receive more than 700 million during the next five years from the federal government after five years the agreement is available to be renewed for another five years if all par ties find it successful so far so good but heres where it gets real- ly interesting the money cant be spent on just anything instead its earmarked to achieve three goals cleaner air cleaner water and reduced climatedisrupting emissions to con tinue receiving funding these goals have to be measurable and reported in a transparent fashion thats really quite extraordinary municipalities generally do not like to be told how to spend tlieir money and provinces dont generally like restrictions imposed either but in this case all three levels of govern ment were able to see the clear advantages of putting the money toward sustainability objectives achieving these objectives will have many benefits including reduced smog and associ ated health care costs and reduced infrastruc- ture costs as a result the money will now be spent on initiatives such as improving public transit building bike paths developing renew able energy projects retrofitting buildings to be more energy efficient improving drinking water and sewage system and more these kinds of projects make for a healthi er and more liveable city its easy to be cynical about political announcements around election time but this agreement has set a new precedent in canada that helps put us on the path toward sustain ability hopefully other provinces and municipal organizations will follow suit with their own agreements by putting aside jurisdictional squabbles and focusing on the common objectives of a sustainable future all levels of government can help make canada a better place in which to live take the nature challenge at wwwdavidsuzukiorg letters policy the suntribune welcomes yourlcttcrs submissions must be less than 400 words and include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and edit for clarity and space letters to the editor tho suntribune 34 cmc ave v box 154 1 stouffville on i tt-tma7z5- rin vfcjmaspneyr irgcom- rjv editorial editor jim mason jmasonyriigcom administration office manager vivian oneil voneilyrngcom events management shows showsyrngcom production manager pam nichols pnicholsyrngcom advertising classified manager ann campbell acampbcllyrngcom retail manager stacey allen salknyrngcom managing director new business flyer sales dawna andrews dandrewsyrngcom new business manager steve kane skaneyrngcom 1 managing director real estate mikerogerson mrogcrsonyrngcom editorial 9056402612 fax 90564o8778 advertising 9056402612 classified 18007433353fcix 9058531765 distribution- 9052948244 canadian ontario nl citation ehijii dqb suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the suntribune published every thursday and saturdayjs 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 regionnewspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill andthornhillvaughan citizen the economist sun markhamthe erabanner newmarketaurora stouffville suntribune georgina advocate york region business times nortivof the city vorkregibncomjand york regionprinting