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W PROVINCIAL ELECTION Two of five Milton candidates talk traffic, transit and hydro : SAIRA PEESKER : sairapeesker@metroland.com ££ Q & Candidates running for ¥ Milton's seat in the provin- Oo cial legislature fielded § questions on. hydro bills, = insidehalton.com = GO Transit and the CN In- termodal Logistics Hub at a local election forum on May 23. That is to say, two of them did. Green candidate Elea- nor Hayward and the Liber- als' Indira Naidoo-Harris both attended the election forum at Milton District High School, organized by the Milton and District chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW). Notice- ably absent were the rest of the candidates in the rid- ing: Progressive Conserva- tive Parm Gill, NDP candi- date Brendan Smyth and Libertarian candidate Ben Cunningham. When asked about the cost of hydro, Hayward reit- erated her party's promise to save money by cancelling the costly refurbishment of the Pickering nuclear plant, and instead build transmission lines to bring in cheap N¥dro from Que- bec. She noted the plan gets Ontario away from having to find a place tostore nu- clear waste and could help avoid a meltdown. "There's a fault line un- der Lake Ontario and (the province has done) very lit- tle to prepare for something like that," she said. Naidoo-Harris was di- rect as she stood by her par- ty's efforts to rebuild Onta- rio's electricity grid, saying NEWS Green candidate Eleanor Hayward and the Liberals' Indira Naidoo-Harris were the only candidates pregent at May 23 event. it was something that the entire roof needs re intermodal hub, which the position, but is primarily a would have had to happen pair?" she said: "Yes, it cost rail company wants to federal issue. noted Nai- eventually, and her party alot. But now we are ahead build on 400 acres near Bri- doo-Harris. recognized the need and got of the game." tannia and Tremaine "The provincial govern- it done. The crowd quickly be- Roads. The hub would see ment will be intervening in "We had to make a gan humming when the significantly increased envirggment and transpor- choice: do we invest in a patch-job or respect that candidates were asked about the controversial CN -- Since 1906 @ CONNON -- NURSERIES -- THE PROFESSIONAL"S CHOICE GROWERS OF QUALITY PLANTS & TREES SAVINGS truck traffic in the area and has faced intense local op- 4 | | [SL | GROWER DIRECT _ * Serving Landscape Professionals Ontario - wide _* Also open to the public Mon-Sat from 9am! * We are the Growers of over 250 ACRES of nursery stock * Visit one of the largest displays of plant material anywhere! 1s, ~@ . www.connon.ca hh PROGRAM - "@con tel : 905 689 7433 NON. rg, Ba tation, where we have some say," she said. SS Br Waterdown Production Sales Yard 656 Robson Rd. Waterdown ON Hayward said she sup ported the town in taking CN to court. "Amen," exclaimed one woman in the crowd. Local traffic and trangit routes were also at issue, with Hayward pointing out that students at the soon-to- be-built education village would have to travel across town to access GO's Milton train station, something she doesn't see as practical or efficient. "We want to skate where the puck is going, we don't want to be duking it out on the boards where the puck has been." In addition to touting her government's invest- ments in additional GO trains and additional park- ing spots at Milton GO, Nai- doo-Harris celebrated a planned expansion of High- way 401 from six lanes to 12 between Mississauga and Milton. "I commute in my car and also on GO," she said. "I know how frustrating it can. be to be sitting in traffic on the 401." The May 23 event was the second election forum in two days that saw only the Green and Liberal can-- didates take part. The pre- vious evening's event was an education-focused de- bate hosted by the Halton District School Board. Local CFUW president Kathy Sellers, the May 23 event's moderator, told the crowd that Gill alerted or- ganizers the day before the event that he would not at- ® See WE, page 22 Halton students excel at Skills Ontario competition 2,300 compete in skilled trades and technologies contests KEVIN NAGEL knagel@metroland.com Halton students fared well at last week's Skills Ontario competition at the Toronto Congress Centre with 32 finishing in the top five in various categories. The competition was fierce, with 2,300 students from elementary schools, high schools and colleges acress Ontario vying for first place in nearly 70 skilled trades and technolo- gies contests. It's the largest skilled trades and technolo- gy competition in Canada. In the secondary school competitions, four students - Luca Patrick, Aidan Ko- losky and the team of Ofer Weis and Matthew Wilson - won their division. In the elementary school competitions, two four-person teams finished second and two other four- somes finished fourth and fifth in their respective divi- sions. Sheridan College had three competitors finish in; the top five including win-* ner Jake Doan in the Indus- trial Mechanic Millwright division. A broad range of skills and careers were re- presented from across the manufacturing, transpor- tation, construction, ser- vice and technology sectors as students competed for gold, silver, and bronze ® See GOLD, page 21 -