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economist suntribune thursday march 8 2001 stduffvifle tribune a metroland community newspaper 9 heritage rd markham ont l3p 1m3 telephone 905 2942200 416 7987624 fax 905 2941538 email newsroomeconsuncom publisher ian proudfoot general manager alvin brouwer editor in chief brenda larson director of advertising debra weller deputy editor debora kelly editor jim mason production manager pam nichols distribution director barry goodyear online publishing manager margaret fleming classified manager ann campbell retail sales manager stephen mathieu inside sales manager stacyallen business manager rob lazurko office manager vivian oneil editorial stopgap highways last thing we need were taking as greater toronto services board chairperson gordon chong put it half a loaf for now and thats what the provincial government is counting on that greater toronto politicians not to mention their constituents frustrated com muters and business owners alike would trip all over themselves in grateful glee at the alltoolongiricoming announcement of some transportation relief the tories aim to construct two new major highways and three roadway extensions pending environmental approval the projects include extending hwy 404 north and build- ing a bradford- bypass linking it to hwy 400 extending hwy 427 north through york extending hwy407 into pickering and build- jng an east-west- highway across the gta north of hwy 407 local politicians were suitably excited about the news understandable given the provinces propensity for downloading but were quick to urge for a longrange solution read funding a stopgap measure is actually the last thing the gta needs whilewere taking the half loaf or short- term commitment as chong said its essen tial we continue to push for a longterm strate gy public transit must be part of the solution 1 the chorus of voices has been growing in a bid to get the federal and provincial govern ments to share tax revenue its an economic issue of critical importance to the gta we need 5 billidnand 20 years to take care of bur transportation needs according to the gtsb who has that kind of money for a start 69 billion a year are collected in road taxes i canada is the only nation in the industrial- izedworld hot providing financial support to- its bigcity publictransit systems in fact over- jill transit funding has declined 25 per cent in thepastfiveyearsj v solutions on the table include sharing fuel tax revenues with municipalities to fund tran- sit financial grants for transit service expan- isiori arid creating a level taxation playing field to give transit users equality with drivers j lets take it a step further in urging a long- range national policy its critical to our eco- rioriiic arid erivironrnerital survival throw- ingtheoddbqne of funding will not solve the problem v letters to the editor welcome back to a sartorial letterspage wordsmith how can i express what a great pleasure and delight it is for me to read in your news- paper of the return of james eb kelly who so elegantly if somewhat abstemiously adorns your letters page on occasion his displays of badinage persiflage and raillery which eschew all rodomontade hyperbole qbfuscation arid jejune babble ment afford readers such insouciant humour along with ineffably powerful argu- ment and logic that i am informed despite his democraticsocialist convictions and sar- torial fripperies his views and opinions are welcomed in the most discerning and esteemed of households james p bkelly markham harris speech on highways an example of dumb growth prernier mike harris has announced pro posals to build new highways to the north and soutii of the oak ridges moraine if they are built thesehighways will turn the greater toronto area into a monster city with acceler ated urban congestion decay and crime the proposed highways will harm the moraine and bur quality of life by generating more traffic pollution forest destruction arid paving offoodland s although land speculators get rich from highwaysubsidized urban sprawl average taxpayers are hurt by sprawling and ineffi cient urban infrastructure premier harris battled the budget deficit why is he retreating from the battles against pollution and taxeating urban sprawl to fight pollution and encourage smart growth the ontario government should invest in the shift from truckloads to rail roads commuter traffic to public transit and fossil fuels to renewable energy premier harris must stop highwaysubsi dized urban sprawl which equals dumb growth otherwise his government will get a failing grade on its ability to reduce pollution and taxes through smart growth jimrobb scarborough join our online discussions atyrngcom your opinion is important to us on our let ters to the editor pages and on our website we invite you to join the ongoing discus sions at yrngcom and youre welcome to launch your own discussion there- too the website serves readers of the york region newspaper group which includes the economists sun stouffville tribune richriiond hillthorrihillvaughan liberal newmarketaurora erabanner georgina advocate and stouffville sim letters police stoujmethbune j 1 resubmissions must be less than y400wrdsandniustincludea rfcdaytfmetelephwenumber iff9p address the t npajra reserves the bright to f- xpubllsnornqtpublishandto- etfofdarityandspacftifi iud write letteis to the editor v5eimii lettenaeoorsunxomv w v j wit t 7- rfi iimivi v i- 1 stotiffvjfem serving the community since 1888 e3h3 canadian arculatjons r r audh board member- v ontario press cound jfty rcanklanraimc3tfomjructsa0canent14o3419 stouffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd group of newspapers which includes the ajavpickering news advertiser alllston heraldcourier barrie advance barrys bay this week bolton enterprise brampton guardian burlington shopping news burlington post- city parent collingwoodwasaga connection east york mirror erin advocatecountry routes etobicokc guardian flamborough post georgetown independentacton free press kingston this week lindsay this week mldlandpenetanguishene mirror milton canadian champion milton shopping news misslssauga news newmarket- aurora georgina erabanner northumberland news north york mirror oakville beaver oakville shopping news orillla rtodayaoshawawhltbyclaringtonport perry this week peterborough this week richmond hillthomhlllvaugrian liberal scarborough mirror stouffville tnbune todays seniors uxbridge tribune and city of york guardian r t- ix- phone 905 2942200 fax 905 2941538 classified 18007433353 distribution 90548244 distributioneconsuilcom david teetzel jan brady of york region wants another councillor well that didnt take long no sooner does mike harris back down on his threats to force amalgama tions in 905land than vaughan decides it needs more politicians of course i mean vaughan council decided it needs more politicians i dont know too manyordinary citizens in the city above toronto whose fondest desire is another regional councillor but vaughan councillors have long cast an envious eye across the regional table to markham- which has five regional representatives to vaughans three back when the region was formed in 1971 that reflected representation by population markham was much larger than any other town in the region and vaughan was roughly equal to richmond hill in population today vaughan is catching up to- markham and quite a bit bigger than richmond hill it has been asking for more representation since 1984 without success vaughan regional councillor michael di biase has had enough of the injustice of it all he wants another councillor and he wants it now in making his point he noted how many more people he serves than repre sentatives from- smaller towns such as king and georgina thats true if you look strictly at the ratio of citizens to each politician but geographically king presents its own challenges its awfully big to be effec- tively represented by one person but vaughan doesnt even talk about representation by population it uses dollars and cents vaughan councils resolution points- out that taxpayers in their city put up 287165 per cent of the regions total tax levy they dont like to round things off in vaughan but have only 157 per cent of the political representation by contrast markham paid 288 per cent of the levy and has 263 per cent of the representation is vaughan just the jan brady of york region constantly in a huff because big sister markham gets everything not exactly because of downloading from the province the region is provid ing more services and running a higher budget than ever before its one thing to be underrepresent ed on a body that maintains a few roads- and rubber stamps planning issues but- when youre being outvoted on transit health care social housing- ambulance its time to say something but its unlikely vaughan will get the immediate action its demanding wei just had an electiori and it wouldnt be expedient tocall a byelection for a new position or appoint a regional council- ldrat this point s v i ct 1 p j t 4 t v t fdr 1 v i t t 4