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Opinion People are to blame when things go to the dogs When Halton Hills Bylaw En forcement Officer Bob first mentioned the subject of dogs during a recent interview centred on bylaw infractions I barely took notice There is nothing inherently newsworthy about mans best friend However when he said costs the Town per year to pro vide canine control services my ears pricked up I for one would have never guessed the cost would be so high In making his comments Mr Ustrzycki said some of the cost is recoverable through ac tivities such as dog licensing but it is only 50 percent That still leaves 35000 per year the general taxpayer must swallow At a time when all taxes arc high and the economy is in a recession the Town and thus genera taxpayer should not have to be paying such a high price for dog control especially since the problem is so easily solvable The solution only requires all dog owners to take responsibility for their pet If they cant or are unwilling to accept this respon sibility I question why they have the dog in the first place According to Mr a good part of canine control in volves tracking down dogs runn ing loose Its a real problem he said The Town receives approx imately telephone calls per year from people complaining about dogs running around without a leash The municipality impounds between 300 and 350 dogs annually that have been caught running loose said Mr If all dog owners kept their dogs on a leash the cost for canine control would immediately be drastically reduced Aside from tracking down and impounding dogs running loose another costly expense of enforc ing the bylaw is taking every in fractor to court According to the town bylaw all infractors must be taken to court That duty car ries with it a large administration cost and time staff expense said Mr Ustrzycki To avoid going to court local dog owners have had the option since January to pay within seven days of being notified they have violated the bylaw By pay ing the fine the dog owner avoids a possible maximum fine of as well as saving the Town money However Mr Ustrzycki points out per cent of those sent the notification dont respond to the notice He said they dont respond not because they object to the fine but because they neglected to read the notice All I can say is dog owners take a few minutes and read the notice you will be saving the Town money and therefore as a taxpayer your own money Political Forum Ottawa Report Federal government threatened by feedingfrenzy Well I certainly had an in teresting week Deputy Liberal leader Sheila Copps called me a rat Another Liberal denounced me on the floor of the House of Commons I was labelled a mutineer by the newspaper I used to work for on the front page Radio commen taries said I had probably thrown away my political future My name appeared in editorials from Toronto to Edmonton I was call- edaMulroney rebel All this because I stood up in the Commons and asked a ques tion of the government Thats it Big deal And here silly me I thought that was my job I told you here last week that the GST has turned out to be col lecting a lot more money than the government thought it would When I voted for the tax change last year it was supposed to be revenueneutral Now it is not And so I told you Id be asking the finance minister for a guarantee that the extra money every cent of it would go directly towards paying down the deficit And that is what I did I asked if it was true that the GST was now a cash cow for the government and if it was where was the milk going The answer I got was that all the extra money would go into a new national bank acocunt set up solely to pay down the deficit Three days later I was happy to see legislation brought into the Commons to establish that ac count called the Debt Servicing and Reduction Fund When I walked out of Question Period I was swarmed by reporters with microphones lights and cameras They pep pered me with questions about me attacking the government about trying to break ranks with the Conservatives about going against government policy about speaking out in a rebellious way A few minutes later the cameras surrounded Sheila Garth Turner MP HaltonPeet Prognmlve Conservative Copps as she called me a rat deserting the sinking Tory ship to doom The television news that night also featured a NDPer talk ing about the Tory caucus crumbling All this was bizarre And I told the reporters that no I was not attacking the government but in stead representing my consti tuents fears that extra GST money might be squandered or used to buy our votes back before the next election I told them that people who live in Caledon and Halton Hills and Burlington want some hope that the deficit will soon fall and then taxes can fall too The govern ment I said should make sure people can have some hope that these toohigh taxes we have to day can be cut This is what Tories promised This is what I promised I would try to work towards And I said that as a Member of Parliament I have just as much right to question the government as any other MP People did not vote for me to be a cheerleader or a blind follower or party politics and discipline After all isnt that what people want these days better representation through MPs who think and act independently Well its not easy getting that message out To the national media its now clear you are either an ineffective silent sheep or a maverick mutinous rebel Give me a break And its interesting that the newspapers will give frontpage coverage to an MP who asks a 30- second question which some in terpret as being tough But there is no coverage front page or back page when the same MP hosts a national conference on finding ways that taxes can fall featuring the finance minister tax protest groups Canadas ma jor business leaders and students So what does it take to get your message out Just look like youre dumping on the government Do that and the cameras will come out in droves The reporters will eat it up Microphones will appear out of thin air The feedingfrenzy on the government will propel you to fame Ever wonder why you dont read or hear any good news about the feds There are some people who have decided on your behalf exactly what it is you need to know Think about it Queens Park Report Answering some questions on Sunday shopping legislation Since of you have called my office requesting more in formation about the common pause day Sunday shopping legislation Ill try to answer some of those questions During a recession arent retail workers more concerned with the right to work rather than their right not to work Were all worried about the ef fects of the recession on working people but retail workers have been identified as relatively unorganized and underpaid Many store employees across On tario were heard to complain about the requirement for Sun day work especially as we ap proached the Good Friday Easter Sunday weekend Felxi- ble equitable legislation will en sure that employment op portunities especially parttime opportunities will be more even ly distributed Anyone working in a retail store will have the right to refuse Sunday and holiday work and the right to con tinuous hours of rest every seven days What types of retail stores are covered by the proposed amend ments to the Employment Stan dards Act Retail business establishments covered by the provisions are defined in the Retail Business Holidays Act as premises where the selling or offering for sale of goods and services by retail is carried on Under pro posed amendments to the Employment Standards Act amusement and recreation cen tres hotels restaurants and taverns are exempted from this Noel Duignan Hatton North Hew Democratic Party the degree of liability under the current law And finally since concerns about land development issues have surfaced in many com munities including those in North Municipal Affairs Minister Dave Cooke announced on last Wednesday the formation of a threeperson commission of inquiry into the relationship bet ween public and private interests in landuse planning in Ontario Former Toronto mayor John Sewell will chair the inquiry The other two commissioners are Toby Vigod executive director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association and George Pen- fold associate professor at the University of Guelph School of Rural Planning and Develop ment The commissioners have been asked to recommend changes including legislative and policy changes that will en trench good planning into the landuse development process They will be consulting politi cians planners developers en vironmental and other communi ty groups and the public to seek consensus on many issues sur rounding the planning process They cannot however In vestigate specific accusations of wrongdoing or corruption definition They are also exemp ted under the current provision for a right to refuse unreasonable Sunday retail work Is our government open to fur ther consultation on the issue My colleagues and I welcome your suggestions and comments especially in light of the strongly divergent views expressed so far on the proposals As I mentioned last week following second reading of the Retail Business Establishments Amendment Act 1991 the Standing Committee on Justice is expected to conduct public hearings on the proposed changes I have some new information relating to the Wage Protection Fund Bill Those of you who contacted me with your concerns about the effects of the above legislation on nonprofit groups should be pleased to know that Labour Minister Bob Mackenzie introduced an amendment to ex empt directors of not for profit organizations from enhanced enforcement as originally pro posed They will instead assume