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stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper 9 heritage rd markham ont l3p 1m3 economist suntribune thursday feb 10 2000 opinion telephone 905 2942200 fax 905 2941538 email newsroomeconsuncom publisher ian proudfoot general manager alvin brouwer editor in chief brenda larson director of advertising debra welter deputy editor debora kelly editor julie caspersen production director cheri kay distribution director barry goodyear online publishing manager brian kirlik classified manager ann campbell retail sales manager stephen mathieu inside sales manager staceyallen business manager margaret fleming office manager vivian oneil editorial jean chretien should apologize to all of us there was no apology there was no expla nation there was no promise to resolve the fiasco human resources development canada minister jane stewart sat silently in the house of commons composed but still as opposition mps fired salvo after salvo at prime minister jean chretien demanding her resig nation over the boondoggle at her ministry the pm refused to acknowledge misman agement in the handling of the 1 billion in grants for job training job creation literacy programs and other projects instead defend ing the makework programs as a moral responsibility to ensure citizens have every opportunity to be successful but the accounting errors that have been uncovered are damning including a grant of 160000 to mcgill university even though it had only requested 60000 a grant of 500000 to a montrealbased video giant that had already received 2 million misallocation of an aboriginal childcare study grant in british columbia that someone used to buy jewelry and claimed it as office furniture and many other instances where money was grant ed but programs were not monitored chretien should have apologized immedi ately to canadians for squandering their money his performance his pathetic defence of an obviously illmanaged program only fur ther proves he is out of touch with the nation canadians are among the highesttaxed cit izens in the western world reform leader preston manning succinctly states no wonder they are angry therefore when they find out that more than a billion of those hardearned taxpayers dollars have been grossly mismanaged by the minister of human resources development he said this is simply another example of chretiens arrogance when he and his party are under legitimate attack when their lack of action has created a serious problem chretien resorts to claiming a greater sense of moral responsibility than those who oppose him chretien should apologize stewart should resign her replacement should take her plan to fix the department and make it happen and canadians should dismiss the liberal government in the next election 2000 opposition austr skills competition letters to the editor trustee clarifies position on extra religion class for catholic students re more religion under study by catholic board feb 1 on feb 1 1 read in this newspaper that i pitched the idea for an extra religion course in york region catholic high schools because i believe it is the right thing to do wow i cant believe that someone could print the exact opposite of what i said on jan 28 i requested that the york catholic district school board not approve a fourth religion credit and that a committee of all stakeholders be established to process pertinent information and make recommen dations to the board this is not a straightforward issue now as required by the ministry of education compulsory courses must be completed in four years of high school instead of five years to add more religion credits than is cur rently required in a shorter time frame gives students fewer electiyes this may negatively impact requirements for university entrance and effectively deci mate certain departments in catholic high schools there are many related issues that also need to be studied prior to a final decision being made at the jan 28 meeting trustees decided to form a committee in the spring of 2001 to look at this issue and report back to the board mary ann kennedy smith unionville driver boycotts hwy 407 after being billed for not using it this is an open letter to the consortium that runs hwy 407 since it is impossible to get through on your 1888 number and since a stamp costs less than a longdistance phone call i am forced to write to you this does not bode well for your getting any of my business i will never ride the 407 again i will also inform my friends and relatives of my experi ence with your highway why am i billed 214 every month even when i do not use your highway why is it impossible to cancel my account with you ive tried writing cancel on my payment already i will also write to my mpp regarding your hiring of the province to do your bul col lecting my licence is at risk how can this be so send me a final bill and please cancel my account thank you from a kind honest giving person who does not like injustice how many easily intimidated people keep paying esther collier richmond hill letters policy stouffvillettibune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the newspaper reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write utters to the editor 9 heritage rd markham ont l3p 1m3 email letteis9econsuncom stouffville tribune serving the community since 1888 bs3 dde canadian circulations 1 audit board member ontario press council canadian publications mail product sales agreement 1403419 subscription rates by mail 1 year 3695 tuesdays only stouffville 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 post city parent collingwoodwasaga connection east york mirror erin advocatecountry routes etobicoke guardian flamborough post georgetown independentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week midlandpenetanguishene mirror milton canadian champion milton shopping news mississauga news newmarket- aurora georgina erabanner northumberland news north ybrk mirror oakvine beaver oakvibe shopping news orillia today oshawawhitbyclaringtonport perry this week peterborough this week richmond hillthomhillvaughan liberal scarborough mirror stouffville tribune todays seniors oxbridge tribune and city of ybrk guardian phone 905 2942200 fax9052941538 classified 18007433353 distribution 9052948244 dave teetzel yorks 15million windfall could easily disappear you know what its like you find 20 you forgot about and sud denly its burning a hole in your pocket now imagine its 15 million and you will know whats happening at regional budget talks today thats how much york region has in its capital reserves its more than the region has ever had in the kitty aurora mayor tim jones called it mindboggling and it appears the reserves will keep growing the region is projecting it will have more than 77 million in different reserve funds by 2002 the politicians and staff are to be congratulated for squirreling away this money but this is an election year and they are ready to spend spend spend markham mayor don cousens wants to use part of the reserves to buy land on the oak ridges moraine newmarket mayor tom taylor will go for that but he also wants to see some spent on social housing the hospitals were mentioned as possible beneficiaries oak ridges mpp frank klees weighed in with the opinion that the money came from the taxpayers and if theres extra the region should give it back in the form of tax cuts but regional chairperson bill fisch wants to keep that money right where it is so when not if the economy goes into the dumper theres still enough to keep all the regions services running its not surprising fisch is a little more conscious of the need for reserves than his counterparts unlike cousens he was on markham council about 10 years ago when his taxpayers were hit with more than a 20percent increase but cousens and the others were on hand for the painstaking cutting at the regional budget table during the 90s perhaps fisch might want to replay that great blast from the past in 1995 when the region was saved from slash ing the police budget only because somebody in vaughan discovered an accounting error worth about 300000 if bill fisch is trying to avoid going back to that im with him after all 15 million is a mindboggling amount if you win it in the lottery but its not that much compared to the financial crises the region has faced maybe the region can free up some of that money for a good cause all of the ideas on the table are worthy but what im afraid might happen is politicians being politicians they will try to please everyone they will spend a token amount on the moraine a bit on housing a bit on hospitals and cut taxes a fraction of a percentage point none will be enough to make a bit of difference but those reserves will be gone sort of like that 20 1 found j milijfixlijl mxjlmjijt jiijiijiirjfiiiaw 1 j