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p 6 the tribune tuesday november 13 1997 st the tribune thursday november 13 1997 vol 109 no 74 comment send your letters to the editor to the address below idiioriai local politicians facing tough tasks now that we know who our councillors will be for the next three years its time to think again about some of the very tough issues they will be facing the voters have made their choices as to who they want to guide the town through what promises to be a very interest ing three years we dont envy our municipal politicians that task its a tough job and its going to get a lot more difficult the changes which the provincial government intends to bring down on the regions is profound the jury seems split on whether regional amalgamation will come and how it will be received by the various munic ipalities and thats just at the politician level as usual when it comes to big changes in the way gov ernment operates the last people to be asked how they feel are the residents what if we dont want regional amalgamation will it be shoved down our throats the way the megacity was in toron to municipal governments in the 905 area are under the impression they have the ear of premier mike harris and his tory government over the next couple years well find out if thats true well also find out just how valuable the votes and seats in the 905 area are to the tories it promis es to be an interesting few years bill 160 is nothing but a tory power grab dear editor re julia munros letter mpp clarifies government position on bill 160 julia munro fails to explain how cutting another 670 million and 7500 teachers will improve the qual ity of education for our students letters she implies that the provincial government has been forced to assume budgetary control because of the ineptitude of the school boards by the same token then should provincial responsibilities be assumed by the federal government in light of their dismal record is spending 13 million on advertising for bill 160 fiscally responsible how much money was spent developing the new curricu lum which looks suspiciously like the old bill 160 is nothing but a tory power grab public hearings are use less when they fall on the deaf ears of this majority government terry carigliabuii stouffviue paper shouldnt give government so much space the letters to the editor section of any newspaper is arguably the heart of western democracy anybody with a point to make a view espoused ratio nal or not can have their moment it is unfortunate then when approxi mately 13 of your editorial page is devoted to what amounts to an unpaid ad for the the government which in your nov 1 1 issue took the form of a letter from julia munro the local mpp and member of the progressive con servative party misrepesenting herself as someone who is informed and who cares munro fails to communicate anything beyond the ruling partys shallow and dishonest public position on education which purports to have quality as its goal when that position is subjected to bill is threat dear editor re bill 160 a democraticallyelected govern ment must govern democratically bill 1 60 provides for government by regu lation a situation that i view as a total itarian threat there is no place in democratic ontario for a star cham ber attitude roger glazin stouffviue informed reflection read bill 160 it is quickly revealed to consist of nothing but an arrogant simple- minded authoritarian appeal to trail erpark ignorance and greed an example of demagogic cynicism in its most unappealing extreme all in all what she had to say is insignificant so i would add is she and the number of votes she gets in the next provincial election will make that clear but you dear editor are the subject of our contempt for having given the government such space shall we refer to you in future as the ontario pc organ did your willingness to publish her letter result from the revenue you gained from the government ad in your last issue is metroland your real publisher somehow indebted to the tory party thats torstar corp not some friendly local good ol boy no matter how they try to present themselves so if julia munro and torstar corp like bill 160 we should accept it my advice in the face of that kind of opposition keep your back to the wall friend matt douris stouffviue editors note just for the record since the strike we were accused of completely ignoring the government stand on its education reforms instead publishing only proteacher letters funny isn t it mpps letter propagates tory myths dear editor i am compelled to respond to julia munros clarification of bill 160 in her attempt to justify the govern ments proposed legislation she has propagated further a number of myths created by the tories she implies school board bureau cracy is extremely bloated and the government has requested that this end data from the governments own school board reduction task force found that boards spend less than 4 of the education budget on adminis tration and governance hardly excessive and cutting more than 1 billion in transfer payments to the boards and admitting about 10000 i i teachers will lose their jobs is a strange way of asking for the class room to be a priority and putting stu dents and teachers first she states the government has had no control over how education dol lars are spent locally this is pure nonsense the provincial government through the education act has leg islative and regulatory powers over most aspects of the education system the province sets the agenda and the boards carry it out munro implies that the government will be responsible in ensuring that dollars arc spent in the classroom however in reports the government has defined the following items as out of classroom expenses pupil transportation school construction maintenance and renovation adult and continuing education secretarial staff and school administrators docs munro mean that each of these items will be eliminated this government has misled the public and put forward the education quality improvement act which has virtually nothing to do with improv ing education it is designed to reduce education expenditures shame on the government for con tinually lying about its intentions steve bull stouffviue stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper patricia pappas publisher andrew mair editorinchief tracy kibble editor debra weller director of advertising mike rogerson retail advertising manager stacey allen classified manager barry goodyear director of distribution vivian oneil business manager pamela nichols operations manager aboutiis news 9056402100 retail sales 9056402100 classifieds 905 6402874 distribution 9056402100 fax 905 6405477 email thetribistarca 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a1e2 i x the stouffville pub- hshod every tuesday thursday and saturday is one at the metroland printing publishing- and distribution group of commu nity newspapers which includes ajaxpickcrlng news advertiser alllston heraldcourier 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