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p 4 weekender saturdaymay2 1997 st the tribune saturday may 24 1997 vol 13 no 25 comment inions 905 6402100 fax- 905 6405477 emailthetribistarca editorial ambulance service must be left alone the tory government at queens park says the cost of pro viding ambulances will not go up when municipalities assume control of the services next year but stouffvilleuxbridge ambulance service operator pete carell fears provincial downloading may result in higher ambulance fees an average ambulance trip costs 345 dollars with the province subsidizing all but 45 concerns were raised recently when usbased ruralmetro corp bought seven private ambulance ser vices in ontario including the lindsay service the fear that stouffvilleuxbridge was next and that higher ambulance fees would follow has been discussed the fragmentation of ambulance service is a step back ward carell told the tribune and hes right the desemi- nation of services to the municipalities should not include ambulances it will amount to a twotiered system one that many seniors and others in our area could illafford in the united states where such systems exist so many problems occur that centralization is beginning to take place to allevi ate the inadequacies health care all aspects of health care must remain the domain of the major government bodies their efforts to trim costs could cost lives in this instance oi4 mn sjhmer wfa7 mps can be like cars gassy and prone to rust heres why elections are a whole lot like buying a car circle the appropriate word or phrase in the follow ing sentences to see what i mean things seem to be going well enough with your carmp and in fact you hardly pay any attention to ithim or her but after four or five years something doesnt seem right youre just not happy with the way ithe or she is per forming in fact youve been doing some reading and the whole line of cars party doesnt seem to do it for you anymore ithe or she makes funny noises and dontdoesnt seem to work very well anymore and it seems like you dont have much power so one day when the writ dropsthe interest rates drop you decide to look for a new carmp the time is right for a change you decide you spend the next month reading up on new carscan didates you happen to notice that brochurescam paign literature make some pretty impressive claims you are naturally skeptical because you werent born yesterdaywerent born yes terday you investigate your carcandidate further by going to a dealergoing to minute with mair andrew mair an all candidates meeting looking around at the vehi clessigns you note that carscandidates come mainly in red blue green but rarely orange upon entering the build ing you are quickly assu- altedassaulted by a candi datesalesperson they shake your hand and ask you your name this is called a no pressure friendliness tactic you tell the candi- high price to be paid for teenage pregnancies dear editor having just completed a grade 12 high school assignment which focused on the troubling issue of teenage pregnancies i felt compelled to write to the editor and hopefully enlighten a few of my peers 1 one million teenagers a year become pregnant thats roughly one in four 2 one in six teenaged mothers have been treated for drug or alcohol addiction 3 fewer than five per cent of unmar ried teenagers place their children up for adoption 4 in ontario alone over a 20 year period the direct costs associated with letters teenage pregnancies is approximately 58 million dollars per year these are just a few of the frightening facts ive learned and think maybe its time we all started taking the proper pre cautions the key to prevention is awareness we may be teenagers and we should be allowed to make a few mistakes but it seems as were making quite a few of them rachel ohearn date salesperson what you want from your cargovern ment and they are quick to respond and tell you they have exactly what youre looking for youre given a coffee told to sit down and then bom barded with a raft of facts and figures all the while you have developed the sinking suspicision that youre being fed a line one thats been rehearsed and practised on a thousand oth ers just like you and its a line youve heard many times before the carcam paign you see runs on gas you cant help thinking that this person who is speaking in circles around you doesnt really want to be your friend theres some thing in this relationship for them that theyre not telling you about the cynic in you thinks they are being nice to you because they will be soon receiving a big fat commis sionpension you get the same treat ment and the same feeling from the other dealers can didates you visit finally youve made up your mind and go to the bankpolls you eagerly anticipate picking up the carelection night results late that day you get the carmp you wanted hope fully you think the one of your dreams the one that will make a real difference in your life the following morning you wake up with a sense that things may truly be dif ferent with a new cargov ernment in the garagehouse of com mons you greet the day with a new pride in your purchasecountry around the water cooler that day the talk is all about your new caryour new mp the conversation lasts five minutes very little mention is made of it again that is until about four years later when people begin remarking isnt it time youwe got rid of that old junkerleech you begin to think about it and at this point realize you have a couple of options 1 trade inoust the damn rustbucket troughfeeder or 2 hang on to ithe or she for a few more years figuring youve gotten a lot of mileage out of ithe or she and ithe or she has served you well sure you think there may be a few loose bolts under the hood but what carper son doesnt then again you may simply opt to ditch ithe or she on the scrapheapunemployment line bottom line is when it comes to buying a carelecting a government the same golden rule applies know whatwho youre buyingelecting other wise youll be sure to be stuck with a lemon the tribune weekender patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editorinchief alan shackleton editor debra weller director of advertising phyllis ritchie retail advertising manager stacey allen classified manager mike rogerson real estate manager barry goodyear director of distribution vivian oneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager about us 905 2942200 retail- safe t905j294 distributioa 905 2948244 p tim marklinni economist end son jciwishrd very ftiruxld thursday and saturday is one of tin- mulroliiid priminji fublithink and uitirivition iroup uf community s dunkpupflrs whjch lactodua ajax- a news advcrtuor allulon colnkuoilaaiija uoach cornier- ttjitirt s fmifmwv a jul letters policy the economist sun welcomes your letters to the editor please keep let ters to no more than 300 words note that letters may be edited for space libel spelling grammar while we endeavor to print as many letters as possible we regret that not all letters may be printed