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6 - Th1e Canadien Champion, Fr1 day, Auquel: 20, 1999 +~OPINION Box 248,19~ Milton, O (905) 87 Editoriai 1 Advertising 1 Classifi Ian Oliver Neil Oliver Bill Begin Rob Kelly Steve Crozier Teri Canas Tim Cotes 1l Main St. E.. The Canadian Champion, psblished every Tuesday ani nt. L9T 4N9 Saturday as 191 Main St. t., Mitos, Ont., L9T 4N9 (Box 248), is ont of The Metroland Prlnting, Pubiishlnç & Dlstrlbutlng Ltd. 82341 groap of suburban compantes whlch includes: Ajax I Pickering 8-23 1 Nws Advertiser: Alliston fierald/Courler: Barrie Advance; Brampton Guardian; Bartington Pont; City Parent; Colllngwoodl/ ~ax: 878-4943 Wasaga Connection; tant York Mirror; ttobicoke Gaardlan; Georgetown Independenfl Acton Free Prens; Kingston Thtis Week; ~ax: 876-2364 Lindsay This Week; Markham tconomlst & Sas; Midland / Peso- ied:875-300 tangaishene Mirror; Mississauga News; Newmarket / Aurora tra ed: 87-3300 Banner: Northumberland News; North York Mirror; Oakvilie Publisher Beaver; Orillia Tnday; Oshawa I Whltby / Clarington / Poit Perry Thtis Week; Peterborought Tihis Week; Richrmond Hiii I Tfromhitf I Assocdate Pablisher Vaughan Liberai; Scarboroagh Mirror; Uxbridge I Stoaffville General Manager Tribane; Today's Seniors. Advertlsing ix accepfed on the condition that, in the event of a Editor typograpticai error, thaf portion of the advertlsing spaco occa- Circalation Manager pied by tht erroneous item, together wifh a reasonabie aiiowance OfieMngr for signature, wiii sot be charged for, but tht balance of tht OfieMngr advertisement wiii be paid for at tht appicable rate. Tht publishor Production Manager reserves the right to categorize advertisements or dectino. Shame on the Tories The provincial Tory government shouid be ashamed for its disgrace- fui handiing of rentai accommodation. We are now hearing stories of students in major urban centres who are facing painful rent increases upon returning from their summer hiatus. They of course have no option but to pay; rather, often their parents have no alternative. Locaiiy, stories are beginning to circulate of big rent increases. In one Milton building, rent for a two-bedroomn apartment has gone up more than $100 per month when an existing tenant moves out. Similar stories are being heard eisewhere. What has the government accompiished through this? Nothing, it seems, save to piacate greedy landiords. Rentai accommodation is scarce in Milton so the price was aiready high. And please, let's not hear that idiotic rationale often advanced by the Tories that freeing the market in such a manner will iead to more com- petition, hence a better suppiy of rentai units. That may happen, but a new pricing benchmark is implicit in such a rationale. When landiords are good and ready to make a kiiiing, they may buiid some new units, and lease them out at the inflationary rates they are now beginning to charge ail over. Many seniors and iess than affluent people wiii be hurt in this process. How much do the Tories care? Not much at ail, it appears. You don 't want to OUR READERS WRITE Thanks for the tîmely assistance Dear Editor outings, assisted with BBQ's, mun programs, partci- I am writing to titank you very mucit for publisiting pated in lots of différent events and activities, learni my letter of June grth titis year. many new skills, made new friends of ail ages, at Titat letter, witicit asked young people in rte Milton generally been a terrific itelp to ail of us itere area ro get învolved witit out Summer Student Ailendale. Volunteer program, itad a wonderful ourcome. We Titank you for your assistance in itigitligitting o have itad nearly 20 summer student volunteers itelp at program, and for your itelp in making our Summ Aliendale over rte past two montits. Titey have Volunteer Program sucit a success. worked in Restorative Titerapy, Speech Therapy, Anthm Hoa Recreation, Hairdressing, rte Milton Place Day Co-ordlnator, Volunteer Reaourci Program, and as Friendly Visitors. They have gone on Tt* Ragiona! Municlpality of Halt see our holiday tapes id at Ur .er 'en It was just my luck that thte one week holiday I had this year was during the one poor weather week of the summer. 1 waited 51 weeks for it, lasting out the swel- tering summer heat, longing for thte days I'd be lounging on lte beach with Lake Huron a few feet away 80 coul off whenever I felt like it. I got in thte water once, and had to wear a sweater most of the time. StilI, "it's very peaceful there and I love thte rhtythmr of the waves crashing against the shore, especially at night. Thte sound of rain beating on your head can be nice, too, altitougit it does have a bit of a bollow sound. Oh, rtere weoe a few good weatiter moments. One night, thte sky was clear, which eiiminated the possibility of snow. That was nice. We laid on thte beach, looking up at thte sky and counting ail thte sbooting stars. We got to about 20, befote baving to go into te cottage and change out of our winter clothes into warner winter clothes. We've been going to titis samne place in Port Elgin for about eight years, so we've developed ail kinds of traditions. Things we have to do eveoy year, whetber we féel like it or not. We go to the movies, watch the stock car races, play mini-golf, do go-kart racing in Sauble Beach, hit the fies market, go goifing, play carda every nigbt, set up a jigsaw puzzle to st thte week, go for dinner once at rte all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurant, and go shopping. Since there are a minimum of seven of us there at ail rimes, and a maximum of 14 at vanious other times, there are a few barries here and there, but titis year was the worst because nott-' ing seemed to be going right. After seeing the Blair Witch Project, two of rte kids refused to sieep witbout rte lighrs on, wbich was rather inconvenient, because it meant rte iights were on for everyone. In a ploy to ger te ligitts off, anotiter pair of kids banged on te wails consrantly ro annoy te scared ones. Evenruaily, it was determiùned that witches didn't care whether ir was light or dark, SO it didn't marrer. Golf was a disaster, ar ieast for me. I got beat- un by a 12-year-oid. He may be as tail as me, and rte Board of Trade may be his home course, but geez. 1 did manage ro win 10-pin bowling, howuver, alitougit it was far from a perfect gamne of 300. I gor 78. The vollcybali net we got for rte beach was too short, so it was usuless, bot somne of the kids decidud rhey would use the volluyball ro invent tbeir own gaine, using te oars from te infiat- o able boat. That gaine ended quickly the oars bmoke in haif. The Chinese restaurant didn't w~ weUj, either, when the kids decided fortune cookies and stick them or their nose so they looked like cr Then they went, 'Caw! Caw!" w their arms up and down. 1 thougitt it was rather funny, bu flot everybody in thte restaurant amused. And I got a dirty look fi table when somebody at ours comp my food isn't cooked enough, it's ing.' Witile we weoe out, one of thec from thte cottage and decided bu friends on the beach. His new fr Animal Control, and we were able to get hlm back just aa the truck showed up. At least I didn't have to worry about my cat. Last year, 1 tried to put hiro in thte car and take itim witit us. He jumped out of the window titree n thJe times hefore I stuck him in the house and called 1 someone to look alter hm. oo e Then with everybody working on thia, huge jigsaw puzzle for most of thte week, we got aIl thte way to thte end and found we were one piece cM short. We looked for it for a day, then cruampled when one of up thte puzzle and threw it in thte gaslage. l'mn flot exaggerating when I say that mirinutes 'ork out too later somebody said: 'Hey, 1 found the missing to break thte piece.' thtie end of Port Elgin bs famous for its sunsets because thte ows' beaks. sun sets in the west out over thte lake. Titey can hile waving be breathtaking, but we weren't able to see a sin- gle one of them. except on postcards. Saved t apparenrly money on film, though, which 1 guess could be vas quite as considered a positive. nom another Not surprisingly, on our last day, rte sun broke Iained: 'Hey, titrough thte blanket of clouds and the tempera- still meow- ture soared. We aIl sweated profusely as we packed up thte cars and headed out. logs escaped 1 looked in my rear-view mirror as we drove 'd go make away and remember rhinking, 'Oaly 51 more iends called weeks until my next holiday.' I can itardly wait. q -- -- - iIra'