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iv v 1 st6uflletribunesaturdaysept22oqoa s- vs iv i re 5 a metroland community newspaper v 9 heritage rdmarkhamontl3p 1m3 u v telephone jv 905j294-220d4l6798-7624cg- majlnewsrobmeconsuncom v it ml v- 5- i 1 published ian proudfoot general manager alvin brpuwer editor in chief brenda larson director of advertising defora weller 1 deputy editor debora kelly production director cherikay distribution director barry goodyear online publishing manager brian kirlik classified manager ann campbell retail sales manager stephen mathieu inside sales manager stacyallen- business manager margaret fleming office manager vivian oneil j letters t harris government has damaged tfie provinces healthcare system j shaw of markham gave us a very mislead ing picture of themanagerial competence of the harris government in his letter of aug 22 inorder t6balarice the books the harris government has dramatically changed the landscape of the healthcare system in ontario according to the health services restructuring commission 11 billion will be carved out of hospital budgets between 1995 and 2003 despite a growing population as a result according to the governments own fig ures real per capita spending has declined by 115 since 1994-95- j the managerialimpotenceof the current government is nowhere more shocking than in the dosing ofhospitals fortyfive hospitals sites have been or will be closed and dozens more have been amalgamated of the 33 emergency departments that- have been so affected six have already been closed arid- most of the rest will be closed very soon as a result ontario has experienced its largest bed closures ever from 199598 a whopping 185percent reduction this has been done without putting in place alternative services such as longterm residential or home care consequently more and more patients are winding up back in hos- pitalsmakirig the situation even worse there have oeen longer waits and fewer and poorer services if this is not managerial incompe- f tence what is it there is no doubt that fraud and duplica tion in our healthcare system should be elim- iriated however by massive and aggressive cuts the harris government has overstretched pur hospital system thus unnecessarily endangering pur lives and the lives of our fam ilies now lets take a look at the governments performance on the environment front yes thelakeview coalfired power plant was there spewing out nitrogen oxides and sulphur diox ides among others during the peterson and rae years but it is thecurrent government that- has increased its production by 300 per cent this has notohly increased our healthrisks it has also contributed to canadas violation of its international commitment to reduce green- house gas emissions to1990 levels by 2000 moreover it is also the harrisgovernment that has allowed opgtoincrease its emissions of these two smog- and acidraincausing pollu tants as long as it purchases emission credits equal to its excessive emissions according to new government rules opg could increase its emissions without any limit what about the drive clean program shaw said should be applauded as long as you spend 200 you could still drive whatever car you want in whatever shape it is what a joke v yiyang v markham chretiens helicopter decision is an aboutface for liberal party as a longtime local federal conservative and now a canadian alliancemember i just want to make a few comments on recent fed eral political developments this recent helicopter decision by the liberal party is an aboutface on a hugehorri- ble decision jean chretien made when the liberals cancelled the brian mulroney govern ments planned 48billion purchase of 50 helicopters shortly after taking office in november 1993 the engines inthis original contract were going to be built in manitoba by general electric with the main purpose ofsetting tip manufacturing and selling the helicopters all over theworld lives have beenjost in the pre terit sea kings and its costing us a fortune try- ingto keep them flying the federal conservatives lost their moral compass when they chose kim campbell as s their leader in 1992 this is why i am now sup- porting the canadian alliance v bud oconnor unionville tackle watersystem rather than restaurant bathrooms joan re joan ransberrys column of aug 10 harris should tackle dirty diners you sure have spunk joanrlts obvious that you seem to have some kind of a beef with york region over a smoking policy so now youve decided to use mike harris in your fight plan pretty soon you will be writing that its harris fault there are dirty restaurants i know that harris bashing is a sport in somecircles but this certainryjjs ah interesting twist i think you should go after chretien arid have theieds do the inspecting any idea what he would say about that if you have a beef with york fight it out with york instead of inspecting restaurant bath- rooms do some real research for us joan and find out if yorks regional director of water actually knows how yorks water is doing and if he plans to get positive confirmation from the province rather than assuming that no news is good news and publish if we passed or failed the selfassessment tests now that is really something worthwhile to take up with ydrkregion tom mitchell unionville i 324 i 7 letters policy stouffville tribune s welcomes your letteisall submissions must be less tlian jii 400 words andmust include a daytimetelephonenumber name and address the newspaper reserves the right to j fpubushorhotpublishandto edit fotdarityiknd space rju v wnte utters to the editor -jheritogerdv- 1 markham ont up 1m3 1 email letters9econsuncom stpufetribune serving the community since 1888 r rfr v canadian drculalions audit board member ontaiid press coundl stouffville tnbune published every tuesday ttiursday and saturday is one of the metroland pnnting publishing and dslnbuting ltd group of newspapers which includes the ajapickenng news advertiser alliston heraldcourier barrie advance barrs bay this week bolton enterprise biampton guardian burlington shopping news burlington post city parent collmgwoodwasaga connection east vbrk mirror erin advocatecountry routes etobicoke guardian flamborough post georgetown independentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week midlandpeneunguishene mirror milton canadian champion milton shopping news mississauga news newmarket- aurora georgma era banner northumberland news north york minor oakville beaver oakinlle shopping news ontha today oshawawhitbyclaringtonpoit perry this week peterborough this week richmond hilfthomhillvaughan liberal scarborough minor stouffville tnbune todays seniors uxbndge tribune and city of york guardian j phone 95 2942000 fax 905 2941538 classified 18007433353 distribution 9052948244 rickvahderline political guts hesded to help homeless people poor tony wong im sure markhams regional councillor nieans well when he says its vital york region deal with its growing homeless population before it reaches crisis proportions but the chairperson ofyorks home- iessness task force has hisheadin the sand if he believes eyepopping statis- tics on the lack of affordable housing will save the day 1 tackling this issue will take a political conscience that has rarely beeri tered around the council table in york regions opulent newmarket headquar- ters it will mean taking an unpopular stance building real affordable housr n ing in the midst of a materialistic mecca it will meanhelping people with no political clout people who are much easier to ignore than the hordes of nim- bys who will converge on municipal politicians if they dare approve a hous ing project for their neighbourhood in short it will take guts intestinal fortitude and intestinal fortitude has never been york regionalcouricils strength wong newmarket mayor torn taylor and the few other socially conscious politicians of the region will have to bat tle the likes of vaughari regional councillor michael di biase di biase takes a damn the poor approach favouring the market rules dogma of ontarios builders di biase says- i wouldnt want to see a policy come from the planning depart ment that states all of a sudden we need a 50percent ratio when there is no market for it talk about missing the point has dl biase never heard of government for the people that doesnt mean- just those who can afford the average 266000 price for a york region home housing task force member monica auerbach must have felt a little discour- aged when she heard di biase proclairn there is no demand for serni units arid apartments especially after regional council was just told theres a 07percent rental vacancy rate indie region and demand for affordable housing is expected to grow with the increasing gap between the rich and poor in the gta the evidence is in but its highly unlikely the region will embrace wongs plea to deal with it now homelessness is destined to join the garbage and transportation crises as the most studied issues in york region twenty years ago demandsto quell those growing problems were made too anyone notice any results lately i 1 i 1 i m i mi 4 n it 1 il ii i tcwtt4 tvi fcj aifcifc asr