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

The only Whitby Newspaper owned and operated by WhitbY resîdents for Whitby resi-dents! Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontario Imc. at 1.31 Brock St. N. Whitby, Ontario Li N 5S1 Phone 668-6111 Toronto Line 427-1834 Doug Aniderson - Publisher Maurice Pilier - Editor Alexandra Martin - Production Manager 2nd Class Postal Registration #05351 Durham Contre MPP Your Ontario' government is maklng good on its commitment to a Common Pause Day, as outlined in the. Throne Speech last Novemrber. 1The Retail Business Establishments Statue Law Amendment Act, introduced in the Legislture, June 4, 1991 by Mike Farnan, Solicitor General of Ontario, is an important step toward improving the quality of if.e in Ontario as Rt makes provisions for a common pause day for ail Ontarians. At the same time, this legisiation strikes a balance in recognizing the need for a common pause day, as well as the raIe that tourismn and leisure industries play in helping Ontarians enjoy -a common day of rest, and the needs of Ontario communities which depend on tourism tapo rt their economic base. (Tourism is Ontario's third-largest inusry.) Following second readingofthe Bill, the Standing Committee on Justice will'conduct public hearngs. As chairman of the Justice Committee, 1 anticipate that 1 will hea more about this issue than any other Ontarian. 1 would like to hear what your concerns are. iComments weoe.i pn l To the Editor: 1 wish ta respond ta the comments of Inez Curi and Keith Powell contained in an article in Whitby Fr.. Press, May 29, 'Association: lnquest Into deaths rases ethical issues.! Without going into detail, ln deference ta t he ongaing inq uest process,' 1 can only say that their camrnents were ill-informed and irresponsible. In 1987, the Developmental Consulting prograrn et Queen's University was asked to assist Christopher Robin Home in developîng a plan for future service delivery. After a thorough, independent . review and broad-ranging consultation, they reported t bat 'the level and quality of service et CRH is impressive. ... CRH has filled a much needed raie n the care of young children Who have known or anticipgted severe handicaps and complicated medical conditions.* The facility was seen ta affer a caring, nurturing environ ment lfor the children, and extremely high praise w;as given for the dedication and skili of ail staff. With respect ta the comment that minstftutionaI" car. is the most expensive form of care, the comments are simply wrong. The closing of the Christopher Robin Home of. June 30 is initially costing the taxpayer nearly $10 million in start-up 'casts, for the establishment of new group homes. This does not include the salaries and expenses paid ta the civil servants, nor the time and energy of the many valunteers and parents involved in the effort. Added to aIl this, is the nearly $650,000 that will be -paid ouf in severence pay to the 65 odd staff that will ho losing their jobs. Most of these will ho collecting Unemployment Insurance after we close. .The operating costs of the new group homes is estimated at between $250 f0 $300 per child, per .day..This--does..,not., include. education- costs, ^nor- the- heafth- care costs. of the medical personnel who will be involved. 'At no time during the 23 years of ts existence has the Christopher Robin Home for Children received one' cent of capital, from the Ontario oovernment to pay the cost of building extensions or for programs requiring larger premises. Most of the equipment we use cost the taxpayers nothing. The money, and in some cases, the equipment itself was donated by generous gifts from the community, i.e. local individuels, service clubs, sports clubs, etc. As a point of interest, Bey Childs and ber Youth Bowling League of Whitby -- through various fund-raising efforts -- donated al of. the outside playground euipment we have used ail throug h the years. This equiprnent wiIl ho, with her permission, donated back to the Whitby children through the parks department. Our per dlemn costs include the foliowing on staff: a medical director, one full- and one haf-time physiotherapist, a PhD psychologist, a behaviour therapist, a dentist and alli -bouse education. The . heaith scbeme pays for the 'pediatrician, the optometrist, the nutritionist and ail the other consultants used frequently in the care of the cbildren. Non. of these services are included in the per diem costs of the new group hiomes. The cost ta theý taxpayer, when the Christopher Robin Flme was operating ta full capacity was,. in 1989, $101.62 per day. In 1990, when we have fewer children, if cost $122.67 per day per child. Compared ta the estimated group home daily costs now, it'is hardly' 'the most expensive form of care,' is it? Kenneth C.H. Barne Admînîstratar The Chrîstophor Robin Homo .forChldren;ý AN ESTIMATED 7,000 peopl1 in tion asking Oshawa General Hospi- cluding many ini downtown Whitby, tai and BOWmlanviile Mémorial Hos- took part in a lifechain' along Hwvy pital to refr-ain from perforing. acros Durham Re 'on on Sunday abordions. afternoon- Thousan Signed a petI. Fr., Pr. photo Census a waste of money By. Barbara Black Last week a 'stranger bearing gifts' arrived at my door identifying herseif as the Census representative f rom the Government of Canada. After her departure, 1 discovered 1 was one of the unfortunate to be weighted down with a pound of paper which 1 was to peruse, and place my 'X' to personal, exemplary, questions about my ethnic background, income bracket, housing costs, religion and, lastly, my comments re the infamous census. The only portion of this ridiculous form 1 feit comfortable filling out was the comment section regarding Canada and the census. The designer of this bookiet or volume should have left more room for us to vent our anger. This nonsensical census did not need t0 be taken in a pear when one in four Canadians are accessing food banks; welfare costs are up over 50 per cent; unemployment is rampant; and thousands are out 0f work, out 0f money and out of hope. Taxes both provincially, and federally, are leaving Canadians poor.,Unrest among the Canadian aboriginais; Quebecers and immigrants of ethnic origin are at a boiling point. Census questions about ethnic origin Infuriate third- and fourth-generation Canadians who' cannot, in tact, designate Canadian without stipulating the birthplace of great-great-great- grandparents. Such. a stupid question grates on ane's nerves. Most of the financlal* information could be .accessed fram the income tax- department- which probably would ho ej ust as, or more accurate than, the census f inancial survey. Welfare and unemployment statlstics co.uld easily ho accessed by surveys- and figures from the, department of social services; housing and rentai statistics from *regional housing. authorities, assessment departments and real estate facts and figures. To inundate Canada Post and one out of five householders with a pound 0f paper, or give questionnaires on sine sheets to access a domicile hosing eight persons, is preposterous. Those of1 us who were compelled by law, at risk of a $500 fine or a jail term, to camplete. this colossal coulage of Canada's status have been1 subjected to an unnecessary costly nuisance. It is as plain as the chin an Mr. Mulroney's face that our problems cannot ho solved by, a mass of mathematicai madness.. But our problems ca en ho solved by government employees who, in the midst of a' depression, recession or-economic holocaust, can put a side their charts and paranoid ' parlez. (speeches) and take a look around them f0 get'an eye-opener as, to what their millions could do -- practically, food-wise, housing-wise, job-wise, morale-wise -- to bring Canada back to, a unified, financially-secure country. The $200 million ýor more spent on this package of waste paper coulci have been used initially to assist those caught up In'Canada's economlc quagmire. When the time comes that Canada has a few million dollars left over for ' treats and g00dies,' then that time would ho ripe to take census, surveys and statistics. Opinions expressed are, those of the author.