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6 stouffville suntribune thursday oct 20 2005 gm stouffville nmgm sunlribune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stouffville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director production interactive media john futhey advertising director retail flyer sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gordpaolucci distribution director circulation barry black director circulation systems lynn pashko marketingpartnerships director debra weller york region printing general manager bob dean editorial time to keep word on retirement it may not be the law of the land but common sense says forcing someone to retire at the arbitrary age of 65 is wrong its cliscrimination plain and simple quebec knows it eei knows it so does manitoba alberta the yukon northwest territories and nunavut ontarios liberals seem to under stand this too calling for an end to mandatory retirement in the 2003 throne speech from a human rights point of view forcing a happy productive employee out of the workforce just because he has turned 65 is nonsense but theres another all encompassing reason to allow workers to stay on the job longer with a rapidly aging population canada is running out of skilled workers in 2003 about 13 per cent were more than 65 by 2023 20 per cent of canadians will be past the mandatory retirement age increasingly the concern is a shrink ing workforce a report by the conference board of canada says subsidizing canadian women to have more children which is extremely expensive if the true cost of raising a child is factored in and enticing more skilled foreign workers arent the answers a big piece in this complex puzzle is keeping canadian workers on the job longer ontario needs to make good on its promise to ban mandatory retire ment so workers reaching 65 can take advantage now but outlawing forced retirement is the easy part convincing valuable employees to stick with their careers longer may be more difficult the average retirement age for a canadian is 62 and only 6 per cent of workers who are allowed contin ue to work full time after 65 to add meaning to a mandatory retirement ban governments must pro vide incentives to keep more older employees in the workforce the conference board of canada has some suggestions create a government pension plan mat doesnt penalize people continuing to work past 65 provide better adult education and training to enhance and develop skills as workers age match older workers with industries facing labour shortages and unable to find enough younger employees these are all laudable ways to keep aging workers productive but first the liberals must stop pro crastinating and end age discrimination in ontario by banning mandatory retire ment letters to the editor columnist discriminated based on dress of youths re smokers gauntlet degrades school column by jim thomas oct 13 i have never read anything with such strong discriminatory accusations not only did mr thomas discriminate against an entire group of people to whom it appears he has never even spoken he has insulted a commu nity that he feels hes representing he discriminated against youth based on their appearance which is probably the lowest form of discrimination there is his assumption these individuals are involved with the law i found most interesting i guess it is safe to say anyone holding a ciga rette or wearing a band tshirt has a record with the police mr thomas said therell always be a clus ter of hardcore renegades who feel theyre beyond the norm and above the law please mr thomas explain to us what is normal this article sounds like it should have been written in 1960s have we not evolved just a lit tle since then i was disgusted to hear in this day and age there are individuals who still believe it is right to judge on appearance alone in a perfect world according to mr thomas we would have schools full of androids in matching attire in a community expanding with young fami lies we can only hope mr thomas utopia is never realized theresa cliff stouffville the stouffville suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the stouffville suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 34 civic ave po box 154 stouffville l4a 715 email jmasonyrngcom street dusty as dodge city summer on westlawn crescent in northwest stouffville started out like any other summer it was quiet clean and friendly as summer progressed the mud dust and dis array from the ripping up of westlawn turned the street into something reminiscent of dodge city during the gold rush since early july i have watched these conditions unfold and wondered how this has been allowed to continue many people have been left bewildered annoyed and most unfortunately ambivalent a project touted as a 10week inconvenience appears unbelievably to be headed for comple tion some time in 2006 despite all of this i wonder what would have happened if wesdawn was a major thoroughfare or had more than 10 50yearold bungalows on it i cant wait for the closures on elm road and fairview avenue and the reconstruction of main street if westlawn is an indication this project should stretch well into the next decade in fact in all its planning glory the socalled development of stouffville will certainly bring a whole new meaning and way of life to the town motto country close to the city tim mathers stouffville editorial editor jim mason jniasonyrngcom administration office manager vivian oneil voneilynigcom events management shows manager bonnie rondeau bwndeauymgcom production manager pam nichols pnlcliolsyrngcom advertising classified manager ann campbell acampbellyrngcom retail manager stacey allen sallenymgcom managing director new business flyer sales dawna andrews dandrewsyrngcom managing director real estate mikerogerson mrogersonymgcom editorial 905640261218668461889 fax9052941538 advertising 9056402612 classified 18007433353fax 9058531765 distribution 9052948244 canada mario oaimom l fas axs board mtrcbor ca suntribune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the suntribune 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 thomhiu vaughan citizen the economist sun marwiam the erabanner newmarketaurora stouffville suntribune georgina advocate york regkm business times north of the city yorkregioncom and york region printing off the top with jim mason random acts of caffeine make community perk york region and many of its lead ers talk a good game after all we are a community of character and are eventually expect ed to show off 1 1 worthy attributes including integrity respect and opti mism identified by residents of the region all are the kind of things we were supposed to learn in elementary school the same qualities we wont exhibit after getting cut off in heavy traffic on the 404 residents didnt name kindness to the list of 11 but maybe it should fit somewhere between fairness and respect as a public service to the region i performed my own kindness test at the stouffville arena last week a man even older than me held a door and waited several seconds for me to catch up to him thanks i said he nodded and smiled widely and i grabbed the door from him time for the test three teenagers with hockey jack ets and bags from another town were approaching i held the door and looked them square in the face not one said a thing or looked my way one spat on the floor a few feet from me but i didnt take it personally he couldnt have recognized himself in this column yet and to think they won the game have no fear the next day my battered faith in humans was renewed a reader called to say thank you but not to me no problem she was praising the woman in front of her at the tim hortons drivethru who paid for her coffee before vamoosing onto main street that morning store staff knew of the kind stouffvillian and her regular act of picking up the tab for strangers but didnt know her name we shared stories a similar event in the same lineup made my day a few months back i held out a 5 bill to cover my order and the clerk brushed me off like i was passing counterfeit cash the guy two cars ahead of you left a 20 and said to pay for as far as it would go said the clerk random acts of caffeine im adding cappuccino to my list of desired attributes jim mason is editor of the sun- tribune