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m3mmi00m s stouffvflle tribune a metroland community newspaper 37 sandiford dii suite 306 stouffvflle ont l4a 7x5 publisher- ian proudfoot general manager ahdn brouwer editorinchief brendalarson regional editor brian kirlik advertising director debraweller classified manager stacey allen business manager margaret fleming office manager vivian cfneil editor tracykibble distribution director barry goodyear jeditorial amalgamation near time to talk is now five years thats the outside limit municipal affairs minister steve gilchrist will give york region municipalities to whip themselves into some sort of amalgamated state streamlined costrreduced efficient five years that time frame shouldnt be a problem since senior politicians and bureaucrats have been dis cussing governance and amalgamation for the past three years after all gilchrist has only given haldimarfd- norfolk hamiltonwentworth ottawa carleton and sudbury a 90day deadline to come up with a local restructuring plan or face provincial intervention all these regions have been discussing the possibili- ties of mergers and although in some cases there is dissension about direction the perception is there will be successful resolutions to the conflicts and the out comes will be positive ones in york region mayors who even want to talk about amalgamation face negative reactions from their col- leagues many of whom just want to walk away from the challenge of creating a new york region or effec tively explaining to the province why the old york region is working just fine newmarkets tom taylor has formulated a working option for other mayors to consider good for him get some options on the table and at least launch discussions thats the type of leadership wed like to see from all the mayors many have stated theyre willing to talk about it auroras tim jones markhams don cousens richmond hills bill bell georginas rob grossi vaugharis lorna jackson and east gwillimburys jim mortsori king townships mayor margaret black has been adamant in her opposition and whitchurch- stouffvilles wayne emmerson has said he cant see any benefit for his community to amalgamate on behalf of the residents of king and whitchurch- stouffville we can only hope these two mayors will change their shortsighted parochial views now that gilchrist has made it clear restructuring will occur if not today men within five years but its not just the mayors who have to demon strate leadership on the issue regional chairperson bill fisch must now jump into the amalgamation pool with both feet as the political leader of the region he must be pre pared to float a few suggestions and use his position of authority to help shape the regions future residents be able to voice their opinions about amalgamation as well perhaps the economist sunstouffville tribunes millennium survey on amalgamation will give our politicians a starting point for discussions responses are pouring in and contrary to the views of many local politicians most residents seem to favour some form of amalgamation local politicians have to figure out their options for best success and float some trial balloons with their residents local councils should be drawing maps they should be talking to their neighbouring councils to see if there are benefits in planning and development finances or even social services if they join forces no one said its going to be an easy task juggling public wishes political sensitivities financial con straints and planning and development realities isnt going to make amalgamation a piece of cake but its better for us to make the plans for ourselves instead of having queens park redraw our map arid now more than ever it should be clear to everyone that the province will do just that opinion letters to the editor hiring on gender creates class of losers and winners re change needed to level gender imbalance column aug 10 certainly it is easy to criticize wilfred laurier university and the ontario human rights commission for a dis criminatory job posting it is easy because the problem this posting tries to solve is incorrectly analyzed and because the proposed solution is moral ly repugnant ineffective and reflects a consistent bias on the partof the human rights commission actions like this are how the human rights commission has squandered its moral authority and become a laughing stock the principle everyone endorses is equality of opportunity not equality of outcome it is not necessarily evidence of discrimination if there are more men than women on a particular university faculty any more than the fact that women generally outlive men is evi dence that men are discriminated against by the health care system and if there was previous discrimina tion against women in hiring or promo tion we dont require those who benefit ted to drop several grades and work their way back up nor do we help those who lost out instead we create a whole new class of winners and losers out of the current crop of job applicants based on gender if you think this is an acceptable solu tion apply your principles consistently and send flamethrowers instead of peace keepers to kosovars ethnic albanians and what about the value of diversity do newideas and fresh approaches have anything to do with gender what an offensive idea or do original ideas and whole areas of research get lost in a stul tifying atmosphere of political correct ness which can only be reinforced by the university administration taking this type of action if anyone sincerely thought this type of job posting was a good idea wouldnt they have to advocate menonly post ings for the school of nursing stu cairns stouflville teens helped worlds needy children as president of world vision canada i would like to thank the many commit ted students and organizers in the stouflville area who helped make the 30 hour famine a success in 1999 to date the event has raised a record 31 million for needy children around the world students in the community raised 56q8 this money will be used to help kosovar refugees orphans in rwanda street kids in cambodia and romania children of war in uganda and needy children here in canada next years 30 hour famine will be april 7 and 8 1 hope stouffville students will join the fight against hunger again by calling 18888famtne davetoycen president world vision canada doug devine wambacksite has backing of 4000 canadians its unscientific its premature and its based on incomplete informa tion but that doesnt make it any less compelling that the 4000 people who have visited the jonathan wamback website over the past four days are all but unanimous in their condemnation of canadas young offenders act jonathan was by all accounts a well- adjusted wellbehaved wellliked and talented 15yearold the kind of kid every parent dreams of raising then in the space of a few minutes jonathans nearperfect life was destroyed he was viciously beaten and kicked in the head by a gang of thugs in a quiet newmarket park in broad daylight on june 29 possibly in a premeditated retaliation for helping police arrest a vandal two months later doctors are still unsure when or if he will recover his devastated parents have chan nelled some of their emotions into cor recting the grave injustice our society has dealt their family while their only child lies comatose in a hospital room the three teenagers ages 16 and 17 accused of trying to kill their son are free on bail this glaring inequity is clearly outrageous but the much greater injustice the wambacks and their 4000 supporters fear is what happens if theyare convict ed v unless the crown can convince a judge to move the case to adult court the most these three will face is three years in jail which could be served in a youth detention centre a halfway house or even open custody if the case is moved to adult court they will face a maximum of life in prison with no chance of parole for at least four years if thafs how this case plays out then the young offenders act will have done its job which is to give teenage crimi nals a chance to straighten their lives out while still protecting society from violent thugs but as 4000 canadians have stated emphatically its the if that is no longer acceptable violent criminals must be treated as violent criminals no matter what their age and no judge should have the right to let them walk away with a slap on the wrist if our federal politicians are paying attention to public sentiment and remove that if then well all be a little bit safer from violent crime and we can thank jonathan wamback and his par ents stoufmelribune serving the community since 1888 the stouffvflle tribune published every tuesday thursday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd group of newspapers which includes the ajarpickering news advertiser alliston heraldcourier barrie advance barrys bay this week bolton enterprise brampton guardian burlington shopping news 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