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

economist sunsun- tribune saturday jan 14 2006 election 2006 the debates staff photojoan ransberry markhamoak ridges candidates steve armes of the green party conservative bob callow new democrat pamela courtot and liberal incumbent lui temelkovski put their differences aside following an all candidates debate thursday child poverty takes back seat t 1 heres no single bullet to eradi cate child poverty but why have we missed the mark for decades when the question landed on the table at thursdays oak ridges- markham allcandidates debate at brother andre catholic high school there was little response perhaps the deafening silence tells its own story is the governments do- little approach directly tied to the pub lics whocares attitude that may be so but the facts wont go away its estimated that 12 million canadian children live in poverty despite rising affluence including here in oakridgesmarkharh the countrys oneinsix childpoverty ratio hasnt changed much in about 30 years should canadians bow their heads in shame in 2005 unicef comparisons canada ranked 19th of 26 developed nations when it comes to the propor tion of children living in poverty while countrywide poverty didnt light any fires at the local allcandidates forum a backyard issue did the 150 in attendance sat up and took notice when conservative candidate bob cal low said hes not convinced building a new airport in neighbouring pickering is the right thing do some applauded when new demo crat pamela courtot and green party candidate steve armes assured every one theyre dead set against the airport and liberal incumbent lui temelkovs ki was met with a few groans when he suggested bringing people together to joan ransberry discuss the airport issue now in its 30th year of course a final decision linked to the pickering airport issue is long over due however is now not also the time to tackle child poverty simply stocking food banks cannot bridge growing disparities between wealthy and poor canadians conservative bob callow insists his partys l200a year tax benefit will help lift families out of poverty while mr temelkovski suggests cutting taxes coupled with creating more affordable housing and child care spots would do the trick pointing the finger of blame away from themselves ms courtot and mr armes agreed child poverty is an absolute travesty its outrageous that 15 per cent of our children live in poverty mr armes said in the land of party politics neither the conservatives nor the liberals have viewed poverty as a votegetter besides poor people have been the responsibility of the nde but it must be noted the green party seems to be willing to share the burden admitting that child poverty is a national disgrace both the ndp and the green party have creditable poverty policies in place reducing poverty is more important than hoarding wealth mr armes stressed simply stocking food banks cannot bridge growing disparities between wealthy and poor canadians he said mr armes is correct when stating poverty is a systemic problem that reflects low minimum wages a precari ous job market a lack of commitment to social housing changes to employ ment insurance benefits and cuts in social programs the ndp is on the right track by proposing 200000 affordable and co op housing units be created to met the needs of lowincome families and seniors who incidentally are paying 50 per cent of their incomes for housing as the election campaign enters the home stretch the latest national polls show the conservatives with a comfort able lead however mr temelkovski went into this election with a 1 l000 vote leadsuggesting it could be a photo finish in oakridgesmarkham whatever the outcome will it make any difference in the lives of impover ished children liberals announce research project will go even if grits lose mayor vows by joan ransberry staff writer future medical discover ies- could carry made-in- markham tags business and local gov ernment officials alike applauded thursday at the markham civic centre when prime minister paul martins announced a 180- million research and devel opment plan designed to target markham toronto andwaterloo the fourpart technolog ical initiative includes a facility on an 11 acre town- owned site at kennedy road and hwy 407 to be known as the national institute for con vergent technologies the markham initiative will focus on the healthcare sector in particular the development of new diag nostic tools medical robot ics prosthetics and targeted clinical applications weve worked oh this project for a long time and now were very very excited to see it come to fruition mayor don cousens said it will not only bring jobs this will attract business to our community no matter which party forms the federal govern ment the markham project is going to happen mr cousens said it has the backing of the national research council so i dont think it matters who wins the election he said markham board of trade officials are watching the development this project has been in the works for some time board chairperson glenn crosby said this announcement is a huge step forward while the new institute will be local its mandate will be national the national institute for convergent technolo gies will be the same with satellite operations and broadband connectivity and connections with other national research council institutes across canada board of trade president keith bray said as well as the research council the local project partners are the town york university the university of waterloo and sunnybrook and womens college health science centre and such private sector firms as ibm canada with its emphasis on medical devices the new institute will have researchers from the bio medical and information technology sectors working together mr martin said if canada is going to compete in the fastpaced global research and devel opment economy federal investment is critical dr john evens cochairperson of the toronto region research alliance told about 100 people during mr martins visit these research projects will benefit the region and indeed the entire country dr evans said these dra- matic projects in markham toronto and waterloo will work synergistically to attract and retain world- class researchers draw international investment and create new companies with highquality jobs ashgrovespa jlinvriy for a better looking lifestyle advance skin body care laser hair removal massage therapy 6633 hwy 7 suite 304 markham southwest corner of hwy 7 9th line tel 9052010343 wwwashgrovespacom