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heading for the polls election hopefuls get set for battle stella yeadon correspondent as ontarians head to the polls thursday the election that was supposed to be a cakewalk for david peterson and the liberals has proven to have some very slippery icing the patti starr scandal alleged liberal connections with the development industry in york region a premature election call and the 33 different tax hikes enacted since taking over from the tories in 1985 have put the liber als in the hot seat throughout the summer campaign while these issues may influence voters in durhamyork local concerns will also play apart in how the votes are cast in the riding which encom passes whitchurchstouffville uxbridge east gwillimbury georgina and brock v thetribune spoke to the candidates running in yorkdurham ndp larry oconnorfprogressive conservative jack hauseman jerry young of the family coalition party and liberal incumbent bill ballinger about a range of issues including lake pollution gravel pit legislation and funding for new schools bill ballinger the former mayor of uxbridge was elected during the liberal landslide in 1987 a backbencher with the peterson government he said from the onset of the campaign he was going to run on the liberal record as well as his own record in the riding mr ballinger says he worked hard to ensure that 5 million in provincial funding went toward implementing a management strategy to clean up polluted lake simcoe the program aimed at reducing phosphorus loading in the lake and restocking depleted fish stock will be carried out by the lake simcoe region conservation authority lsrca during the next five years cleaning up lake simcoe has to be a priority because the lifestyle of the community is centred around its well being if the lake goes so does their lifestyle says mr ballinger although the pollution problems in musselmans lake are different and more complex than lake simcoe he maintains the province must be equal ly committed to cleanup measures there to date the liberals have put aside 3 million to improve water quality adversely affected by effluent draining into the lake we also have to look at development and the effect it is having on small kettle lakes like musselman he adds meanwhile municipalities in the riding will soon start to benefit from the revenues obtained by the aggregrate resources act bill 170 put forth by his government uxbridge alone will receive in excess of 400000 in the coming year as a result of the bill says mr ballinger in response to allegations by all opposition parties that money collected from tax increases is not being spent on needed programs in the province mr ballinger counters that much of the revenue has gone toward a balanced budget and tax rebates for seniors and low income ontarians liberal plans to roll the provincial sales tax back to 7 per cent once the gst is in place will put between 300 and 400 back into peoples pockets he says an mpp is the facilitator of a shopping list in the riding adds mr ballinger his personal shopping list includes improved rail transportation the extensionof the 404 arid new public schools in both uxbridge and georgina who running bill ballinger liberal jack hauseman pc larry oconnor ndp fcp please see taxes page 2 3 k s ri i 1 it i i 1 1 i i 1 1 ft m 1 a 1 i i v atsiimissbkssbsii iwmm