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"A Family Tradition for 130 Years" PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, April 30, 1996 - 7 I _ETTERS Is Blue Heron a big Red Herring? To the Editor: After reading and hearing various aspects of the proposed casino, I feel compelled to write, as some of the issues are greatly disturbing. Firstly, my concern is the wa- ter and sewage situation. Only recently, the Lishmans had to cancel their plan to develop a property in Nestleton which would ultimately employ many, one reason being the regula- tions of the environmental bod- les regarding sewage and water facilities, which had to be strict- ly adhered to. Now we are faced with the construction of a casi- no on Scugog Island which will accomodate up to 1,000 people (patrons and employees) and will operate seven days a week. It makes one question what happened to the strict environ- ment regulations! Secondly, if people think this The value of French To the Editor: : This April, I went on a trip to France with P.P.H.S., ar- ranged by Nancy Hamer- Strahl and Sophie Lefebvre. As a French Immersion parent, I was happy to expe- rience first-hand how useful French-language can be. With help from the students and teachers on the trip, I managed to get by in a coun- try where the only word in French I knew was "bon- jour." The look on the students' faces as they used their French was as priceless as the trip itself. I have always promoted French Immersion in the past and this trip to France has made me realize just how valuable it can be. Mary Andrews, Scugog operation is going to be another "Windsor", they'd better consid- er the facts: Windsor casino pays property tax to the city, plus a percentage of the profits go to the provincial govern- ment. The Island casino is strictly privately-owned and built on native land. Conse- quently, no property tax is paid to the township or the region. The developers have already stated that they are not respon- sible for the Island road up- grades and repairs estimated to be about $3 million over the next few years. As well, there are other costs to the public in an operation of this kind, such as police and medical services, ete. It is true there will be some benefits to the community (jobs, etc.), but will the benefits justi- fy the costs? Thirdly, this casino is to be fi- nanced and managed by Casi- nos Austria, a company operat- ing more than 100 gambling facilities in 14 countries. I sug- gest that the public 1s very naive if they believe that Casi- nos Austria is interested in op- erating a charity casino. There is no question; they are here for one reason only, and that 1s maximum profits for their com- pany. Any charitable donations to local causes will be token amounts, if such are forthcom- ing at all. To my knowledge, there is no written argument or' obligation to our community and it appears they "hold all the cards". I can't help but wonder, with a set-up like this, if the Great Blue Heron won't turn into a Dirty Red Herring for the tax- payers of Scugog Township and Durham Region. J Bissch op, Scugog Island. Casino doesn't add up To the Editor: On Friday, April 26, as many of us lined up at the municipal office to pay our taxes, we read the editorial in the Weekend Port Perry Star and discussed the Mississaugas' re- announced Casino plans, we were struck by the illogic of it all. a Mayor Howard Hall, who says potable water and accepta- ble sewage systems will be in place, despite his protestations earlier that the municipality has no jurisdiction over the Re- serve. a Secondary roads are in ter- rible shape, but the region has several million dollars for the road leading to the casino site. Q The $12 million building will pay no taxes. We, the neigh- bors, will. What a deal. 0 How will PST be handled? Q Does anybody know how much the Ontario government will receive from gross revenue? If none, why not? 0 At what point will slot ma- chines be introduced? It is quite possible, under the Bob Rae pro- tocol signed in 1991. Q Will beer, wine and liquor be supplied locally? 0 We pretty well agreed that the BIA and the Chamber are Queen Street-oriented, and that we all have a bad case of "taxation without representa- tion." Joel Aldred, Scugog Island We've got many more of tor' Notepad Iz» by Jeff Mitchell % AND NOW, A SMELT BULLETIN WASTE? WHAT WASTE? ...In these trying Tory times, it seems we're looking everywhere for waste. Teachers are a waste of money. Welfare payments are a waste of money. funding for doctors and hospitals is a waste of money. It goes on. With all this concern over waste, I've been looking around and taking note of items that could be, shall we say, trimmed. Such as this package I'm bundling up to send to Hurricane Mike Harris' office: It's a six-page fax transmission, sent to 21 newspapers, radio and television stations, including a cover page from the Ontario government's Electronic Post Office. Also in the package is one full page announcing it's from Dan Boileau at the Maple District MNR office. That's all. Another page has the afore-mentioned media list. Another is utterly blank. Two of the pages are dedicated to the announcement, which kept our fax machine and the MNR's humming. Here it is: THE SMELTS ARE RUNNING IN LAKE SIMCOE! Beside my desk here is a box full of faxes and mailed releases from the provincial and federal governments. The worst offender, interestingly, is the federal environment ministry, which weekly sends faxes and mailed packages -- reams of paper -- announcing regional initiatives that are of no interest whatsoever to the hundreds of weeklies to which they are delivered. Do you really care that the community of Prince Albert, Sask. has been given a grant to upgrade its power plant? Thought not. ...Who authorized this guy at MNR's Maple office to write a bulletin about smelts, and the best way to catch them? Why was it sent to more than 20 media outlets? Furthermore, how many papers/TV stations/radio stations tossed it straight into the waste paper box? Will it appear in the Toronto Star? How about the Thornhill Liberal? You can bet CKDX Radio in Newmarket's gonna jump all over it, en? Gimme a break. O, CANADA.... Who would have thought that we'd begin the week with all of our Canadian-based NHL teams out of the running after the first round of the playoffs? Or that the once- mighty Bruins would have fallen victims to upstarts from (gulp) Florida, or that the Habs would have their hopes extinguished SO quickly? | blame Jean Chretien. If he had moved to get rid of the GST -- stay with me, here -- and make playing in the Great White North a more attractive proposition -- tax-wise, see -- there wouldn't be such a drain of young and established talent to arenas south of the border. Who wants to play here for loonies and have his bum taxed off when he could earn greenbacks in some tax haven -- not to mention sunny clime -- like Tampa or Anaheim? So blame the Liberals. Bob Rae's gone, so we can't pin it on him, and Mike Harris likely had the Leafs in mind when he ~ your letters on page 22 proposed his 30 per cent cut. Yeah: Blame the Grits. Random Jottings ea ogg by J. Peter Hvidsten LIBERALS HAVE DUG THEMSELVES A DEEP HOLE | Asif Canadians aren't suspi- | cious enough of politicians, our Prime Minister, Deputy Prime " Minister and Finance Minister lost more credibility this past week as they refuse to rec- ognize how hostile the public has become over their inability to scrap the GST and deliver on their elec- tion promise. Jean Chretein, Sheila Copps and Paul Martin have put themselves, and the Liberal party in seri- ous jeopardy, and only time will tell if the electorate are willing to forgive and forget the broken promises delivered in the last election. Canadians have been duped once again by politi- cians who appear ready to say anything to get elect- ed. The promise to scrap the GST not only hasn't been kept, but the PM is still trying to con the public into believing that was not his intention. But Sheila Copps recognized the promise, and in fact vowed to resign if the GST was not abolished under the Liberal government. A statement she reinforced on a number of occasions, and would now have us believe was just a "fast-lip comment" that we should dismiss. | At least Finance Minister Paul Martin was man enough to admit the party made an honest mistake thinking they could abolish the GST. It comes a little late, but none-the-less it was a public apology. Chretein and Copps would do well to follow Martin's lead and admit they miscalculated the impact of abolishing the GST. In doing so, maybe... just maybe... they will be forgiven for misleading the electorate into thinking they were more trust-worthy than the PCs, who brought in this nasty tax. But | think not! Deceit, lies and lack of credibility all promise to be the undoing of this pompous Liberal government and when the next election rolls around they will pay dearly at the polls. With a year or two to go before the next election, you can bet the Liberals will be banking on the pub- lic forgetting the broken promises made during the last election. But the GST is a despised tax and it's unlikely it will ever be embraced by Canadians. The Liberal's slide into oblivion has started and their broken promises, arrogance and cocky attitude will be their undoing. Atleast that's the way | seeit! IN CLOSING - Anyone who had any doubts about how badly we needed a large community hall in Scugog need only to investigate how busy Scugog Centre has been since opening earlier this year. The facility is booked almost every week with some type of function and last weekend both Port Perry Minor Hockey and Ringette Association made good use of it for their annual awards banquets. Itbegs one to ask... how did we get along without it for all these years? BEE