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OTTAWA REPORT By SHCUi YrtSi What a difference 3000 miles can make This past weekend and I visited the Yukon the guest of Erik Nielsen MP for the Yukon and the Yukon Progressive Conservative Association It was our first visit to this vast some square miles and beautiful region As we talked with the spirited and enterprising people of the frontier we were once again reminded of the unparallelled potential of this country The people of the Yukon are lively and op timistic bristling with fresh ideas creative energy and confident of growing prosperity There is a feeling here that the proper com bination of humans and natural resources can make Canada the envy of the world What a contrast with the confused thinking that was prevalent over the weekend some 3000 miles to the south at the Toronto Liberal Con ference There frustrated party faithfuls openly told the press The Prime Minister isnt listening and decried the same old run down recycled slogans and bankrupt policies that are conditioning Canadians to accept a standard of living less than our real capabilities There is a limit to growth Canadians are living beyond their means these are the Prime Ministers excuses for a sagging economy When backbenchers and rankandfile Liberals questioned the government about government elitism Growing bureaucracy and government secrecy shrugged off their fears telling them in effect Dont worry we can listen to criticism And why not The Liberals are experts at creating the very same problems they expect re election to solve The Liberal party has one guiding principal it is to gain and retain power It has little ideology it is a party of duplicity True to form they gathered in Toronto this past weekend not to shape policies which would necessarily be in the best interest of the country but rather to adopt policies which would ensure their reelection They are political chameleons capable of changing colors with each new poll In the theme paper bid before the con ference Senator Maurice Lamontagne states governments will become more overburdened more bureaucratic more inefficient and they will not be able to successfully face current and future challenges He believes we should have faith in human beings and allow them to solve their- own problems How strange We in the Progressive Con servative Party have said that for years yet the liberals who have been in power for the past decade have led the way in increasing govern ments share of our GNP from per cent in to per cent in Now they tell us it is not necessarily good and they hope we will turn to them to lead us back to more individuality and less government domination Sensing the publics mood and current hostility to this government they in effect are saying We will take you where you want to go ignoring the fact that it is their policies that have created the problem from which they want to relieve us Mr political mentor and the philosophic king for his advisors is obviously himself Look at their record Who else took our unemployment insurance system completely revamped it fought credit and now when it has been shown to be a costly deterrent to employment seek new praise for tightening it up Senator Lamontagne points out that in felt we had ample reserves of gas and oil but now we have become a net importer of oil We should not build our future on blind hopes he states But he fails to mention that it was his governments handling of our resource industry through overtaxation and faulty regulations that contributed most to the slowdown in our resource development His solution is a new institution Horizons Canada In my opinion the brightest political horizon we could have in Canada would be the setting sun of Trudeau Liberalism Queens Park Report by Bill Hodgson KEEP NEWMARKET AURORA SEPARATE URGE COUNCILLORS Report waste of money Timpson AURORA A 500000 York Region study providing a blueprint for growth in the area to is a waste of taxpayers money Mayor George said last week It is obviously a report designed for very light when studied in depth it appears to be so full of holes and contradictions that it is ludicrous he noted The mayor and a group of Aurora councillors took a shot at regional government in a special meeting called here to comment on A Recommended Strategy for Urban Development for South Central York Although there was no quorum for the meeting originally scheduled to be a meeting of council in committee Councillors Richard Isaacson Len and Earl Stewart met with Mayor in his office unofficially to make recommendations for a council presentation to the region The report compiled last July outlines regional growth and the roles of the member municipalities to the year 2001 for an ultimate potential population of nearly including rural urban and additional population under Ontario Housing Action Program schemes The meeting agreed with overall general regional planning through a central planning department to ensure such features as green belts At that point agreement with the report ceased SEPARATE COMMUNITY IDENTITIES The report refers to Aurora and Newmarket together complained Councillor Isaacson who noted it is healthy to maintain the friendly rivalry which now exists between the two communities Aurora and Newmarket currently act in many ways as one service centre the report states It recommends a population target of up to 75000 in this area by Councillor Isaacson rejected the concept of similarity between the communities and the meeting agreed it was important the towns be separated in the report For instance Aurora uses St as Its main street while Newmarkets Main St is considerably east of Yonge St he added We are separate entities agreed Councillor Ostick who recommended the region revise its calculations on that premise Wt INTERCHANGE To ensure separate identities Councillor Isaacson recommended the proposed interchange be moved to the St John from the recommended Wellington St You havent got a prayer commented Coun- Keeping in touch with people has always been one of my continuing concerns as your elected represen tative at the provincial level Government must be able to respond to individual concerns and to overall problems of particular groups of people Often in the past most people thought that if Suf ficient money was poured problem that problem would be reduced or eliminated Money in itself was not however the cureall for most challenges but a combination of good financing and the great dedication of talented professionals really make up the three key ingredients of helping to resolve the concern Such is the approach to be taken in educating our young people to the dangers of alcohol by the Ontario Health Ministry for the past two years the Health Ministry has carried out a largescale alcohol education program using radio television and transit advertising to get the message across This ad vertising has been presented sensibly and without exaggeration The next phase of this program is to prepare teaching kits aimed at our young people in Grades and It is factual straight forward and lays out the high costs of alcohol in happiness careers and even lives Still the distribution of these teaching materials cannot do the job completely When presented in physical education and health classes by dynamic and dedicated teachers only then the students gain a firm appreciation of the dangers of alcohol This program will not reach every young mind but I believe it is better to try rather than not to haw tried and to fail automatically The old saying of lighting one candle than curse the darkness applies in this instance Sheppards Bush area Syrup fest draws crowd AURORA The annual maple sugar festival at Bush Conservation Area has lured more than 400 people each weekend to sample maple products and watch syrupmaking demonstrations The festival features a tour of the bush depicting maple sap collection from the time of the Indians to todays modern methods from trees as old as years Accompanying the demonstrations which began March and will run through April 10 the Aurora Lions Club is serving pancakes topped with real maple syrup Even on the most inclement day of the festival more than 150 came for the pan cake feast according to a spokesman On good days from to 250 attend Maple sap is collected periodically from the trees in the 50acre conservation area for boiling in the maple shed on the properly Last week the authority collected 200 gallons of sap on a warm day which boils down to five gallons of syrup On colder days Ihe sap runs more slowly Sap is also boiled in an outdoor cauldron as an example of a syrup tradition and a pot is kept boiling in a shed used for many years by former owner Reg for his own operations Last year guided tours were con ducted through the conservation area while this year a booklet available free replaces the tour However authority personnel are available to answer questions Maple syrup and sugar candy are sold on the premises The festival continues April 2389 and Visitors to the maple sugar festival at Sheppards Bush Conservation Area on Industry St Aurora get a look at the maple syrup industry from the time of the Indians to today Top photo visitors can watch syrup processing at the building on the left or purchase products at the building on the right At left Brixa of Newmarket tastes raw sap At right sap boils in an outdoor cauldron Carol photos cillor Stewart who said he disagreed with the move because of the cost Involved as well as the potential benefits to Aurora to have Wellington St as the in terchange It Is a waste of taxpayers money to change the proposed location of the interchange he said claiming it would cost million to million to construct an adequate road at St John because of the swamp Better that than having the interchange in the middle of town remarked Councillor Isaacson who said it would be like running to Queen and Yonge Sts in Toronto Poor old Yonge St said Councillor Isaacson Im not saying well get anyplace but we should make the point Currently it is proposed that interchanges be at the Bloomington Sideroad Wellington St and Davis Dr noted the councillor who claimed it Is ridiculous that Aurora with its smaller population has two while larger Newmarket is given only one An interchange at the St John Sideroad would serve the two communities belter than a Wellington St in terchange We should keep Wellington St for our own traffic said Councillor St is a disaster now because of traffic Because Yonge St cant be widened in Aurora to handle the extra traffic it would become a catastrophe commented Councillor Ostick The Ontario government should build its fourlane highways while regional government concentrates on making maximum use of concession roads by im proving and paving them without widening them he said This would give people a choice PICKERING AIRPORT Its going to be theres no doubt in my mind about that said Councillor Stewart of the proposed Pickering airport However the councillors rejected the concept of an airport at Pickering noting the government has not yet justified the need You just cant comprehend the population ex plosion that were going to have in a few years noted Councillor Stewart If the population in York Region doubles in 20 years how about air traffic in 20 years BUREAUCRACY Theyre building a bureaucracy that you wouldnt believe its frightening said Councillor Isaacson noting if the report were implemented it would add significantly to the cost of regional government which is already million For instance nearly all of the proposals in the plan call for special monitoring processes to be set up at the regional level That scares the life out of mo said the coun cillor They should not consider increasing their staff to do all this monitoring The region wont anymore listen to you than you three will listen to me commented Councillor Stewart Theyve got guys down there who dont have anything and thats why theyre churning out this kind of stuff Councillor Isaacson said REGIONAL TAXATION Once regional government gets financial responsibility it will want control noted Mayor He said each municipality should be free to develop a residential industrial and commercial balance according to its own wishes keeping in mind green belt restrictions around each municipality Councillor Isaacson claimed this section con tradicts other sections of the report For instance the report calls for regional taxation to equalize the difference in assessment between the more industrialized and commercial southern areas and more residential northern areas noted Councillor Isaacson However in another section of the report it notes there is no tax advantage to industrial and commercial developments Elsewhere in the report it also states that a balance of employment should be struck in each of the municipalities The meeting disagreed with the theory mentioned in one area of the report that Richmond Hill be the centre of commercial growth Mayor Timpson noted the results of the John report expected this spring on the Toronto government may recommend Toronto annex parts of the southern municipalities and along with it the in dustrial growth in the southern areas That would shoot holes through the whole report he commented Hie document is full of contradictions and it appears the right hand doesnt know what the left hand is doing the mayor said adding it is a complete and utter waste of public funds It points out the major weakness of regional government the volume of paper thrown at 16 councillors each week who are expected to comment on it Mayor said Man charged with gas station shooting NEWMARKET A Richmond Hill man charged with attempted murder and three counts of armed robbery has been remanded for one week by Provincial Judge James following his appearance in court here last week Phillip Peter 21 of was arrested last Thursday in Fort Erie in connection with an incident In September when Sunnys Gas Bar at the Plaza in was held up A pistol toting man escaped with cash Several hours later the Beaver Gas Bar on Kennedy Rd was held up and a man escaped with In November an armed man walked into the Woodbine Truck Centre in where attendant David Ross refused a demand for money and was shot in the chest Aurora needs factories to keep taxes down AURORA Aurora must increase its assessment base to relieve the tax burden to present residents Mayor George Timpson said last week For the past few years Aurora has passed statusquo budgets but now the town has cumulated needs which must be met the mayor told a meeting of the Aurora Lions Club To increase its assessment base the tewns industrial com mittee has met to lure i to the area and residential development proposals have been considered by the planning committee Development is also dependent on location and production of a new water source Mayor Timpson said noting once water is found council is ready to proceed with construction of a new well Council hopes to see construction of industries in the towns industrial park as well as on lands owned by Alliance Building Corp by this summer he said Public meetings have already been held on subdivision proposals facing the town and while council does not consider such meetings a forum for approval or disapproval of the proposals it will consider issues raised by citizens before making final decisions he noted The councils basic and underlying policy of consultation rather than confrontation still holds Mayor said The decisions made by council must not only be responsible but must also be seen to be responsible by both the citizens of Aurora and by the people directly involved in whatever issue might be Council has com pleted work on its new official plan and expects it to be signed shortly by the Minister of Housing he said Work will begin soon on a new ac companying zoning bylaw which will involve public meetings and resolution of objections from individuals or groups This process is expected to take from six to nine months In the three months since council look office It has been involved in major decisions which will result in a real change in direction for the town Mayor said