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

By Tim Foran CANADIAN CHAMPION STAFF A Milton comînuter's on- fine petition for GO Transit to retract botb tbe [are bike it cnacted tbis past weekend and one last year coulcl set up an interesting political sbowdown in tbe Ontario legislasture Monday Andrew Salmons, wbo quit taking the GO train to bis work in Toronto last June due to poor performance and rising [ares, started tbe petition last Friday after GO's board of directors passed its 2009-10 operating budget, wbicb included a 25-cent fare bike for adult rîders and a snialler one for seniors and cbildren. As of Tbursday mornîng, the petition bacl rcccived ahlost 1,.700 signature,, miany witb angry commuents regarding the Provincially- funded agencys decisiots to raise fares in a recession. " 1t's wrong," said Salmons. "People bave unre- fiable service [rom GO. Its costing us more wben driv- ing is costing less and less." ng ry o veQlr Salmnons forwarcbA bis concerns to , Hafton Conservative MPP Ted Cbudlcigh, w ho said bc sup- ports the petition and plans to bring it up i tbe Legisiature. Cbudfcigb said bc mîgbt read a statement expressing concern on the issue or ask Transportation Minister (MTO) Jim Bradley an oral question during Question Period. However, bringing up the issue in Question Perîod could backfire for the Tory MPP, who bas been front- and-centre in tbe Legislature in recent weeks attacking the government's spending pri- orities and bandling of the cconomny Its an almost cer- tainty Bradley would bc rcady witb a bandful of sta- tistics sbowing wbat the cor- rent 1 bu)ral gos cronit bas, spent on GO Transit expan- sion and operations com- pared to the bandling of tbe transit body under tbe previ- ous Tory government, wbcn formner Premier Mike Harris downloaded funding respon- sibility for GO to the munie- ipalities for a few ycars. A spokespcrson [or the MTO said the Province is spcnding $805.7 million on GO for 2008-0(9, cornparccl to $ 35.1 million in 1998-99. For its part, GO said ot was taking Salmons' petition very scriously" "GO recognizcs tbesc arc challenging tiînes economi- cally," said GO spokcsperson Vanessa Thomas. "(But) GO also recognizes thc [arc incrcasc is nccssary in ordcr to pruvide the bcst possible service and continue to expand to meet the needs of our ridlers." The system's on-urne per- formance averaged 88 per cent in the Iast quarter of 2008 though its December performance stood at 84 per cent, a two per cent drop [rom the same month in 2007. Thomas attributed the dihop bo ibe -,nos stornis, before Christmas. I be agcncy now posts average on time performance for cach indivîduaf train at ots wcbsitc wwsw.gotransit.com, by clicking on 'Schcdufcs. fii Foi-an t-i,î bi, in'ai/ed champion. coni. Wilth lotion purchase Sun w TAMIF www.sunhavetnnn.1COM Hwy. 25 & Derry Rd. (Pizza Hut Plaza> VOT D# 905-878-2324 12 YEARS RUNNING