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economist suntribune thursday may 23 2002 stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper 9 heritage rd markham ont l3p 1m3 publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly director of advertising debra weller editor classified manager jim mason ann campbell production manager retail sales manager pam nichols stephen mathieu distribution manager inside sales manager barry black stacey allen electronic business manager communications robert lazurko opinion telephone 905 29422oo 416 7987624 fax 905 2941538 email newsroomeconsuncom manager john futhey office manager vivian oneil editorial rapid transit deal sign of commitment to smart growth transportation woes have undoubtedly been the bane of york regions recent history ranking second only to environmental concerns transportation issues were high lighted by residents taking part in the regions vision 2026 planning process last year its a problem growth created and exacer bated its a problem intrinsically linked with the regions ability to continue to prosper finally a first cautious step toward improvement came with the approval of a regional transit system last year politicians finally tossed aside the limita tions of parochialism that for so longhad acted as a red light to solutions and now the region has announced one of its most ambitious plans to date a 41 billion rapid transit system to be designed built and operated by a consortium of companies in partnership with the region the first private- public sector deal of its kind in canada over the next three decades the partner ship aims to create a sophisticated system to carry commuters on the yonge street and hwy 7 corridors and link them with public transit systems in toronto and other regions this is a milestone in the regions history as chairperson bill fisch said not so much because of the kind of deal it is but because it is the largest indication socalled smart growth is taking root in the region as it heads toward a population of 13 million by 2026 along with the transit and transportation initiatives the region is embracing plans for affordable housing services for youth senior citizens and new immigrants recreation cul ture the environment many of the elements required to create the sense of community res idents say they want plans for growth now include initiatives such as markham centre which includes an array of welldesigned housing options busi nesses as well as pedestrian friendly and tran sitoriented neighbourhoods its a new york region and if the public input gathered in the vision 2026 process is any indication its a change residents not only have come to terms with but are demanding while it will take time to see visible proof of smart growth residents can take comfort in knowing their region is one of the leaders in the gta in smart growth strategies letters to the editor god may be unchanging but religion far from perfect re god unchanging so religion should not evolve with time letter to the editor by david mokmay21 there is a certain irony in mr moles claim the comments made by letter writer stephanie doman were misguided his let ter contains a flawed assumption religion should not evolve with time because god is unchanging religion is an institution grounded in a set of beliefs values and prac tices while a god may be perfect the religion that worships that god as a human creation is subject to error as a result any set of beliefs values and practices may be imperfect in 2000 during a pilgrimage to the holy land the pope apologized for the catholic churchs record of antisemitism through the ages if religion does not change with time which mr mok claims for what exactly was the pope as the head of the catholic church apologizing in her letter ms dornan is not making a blatant request for the catholic church to change she is simply stating that the church needs to grow not in a physical sense but in a spiritual sense which is a very important distinction to make marc halls attendance at his high school prom did not infringe on the freedom of right of religion allowing people to reflect on the notion of personal decision and lifestyle if anything reinforces the right of religion people may change without growth but people cannot grow without change jason shim unionville province spends plenty to educate ontarios children re face facts provincial education fund ing formula not working letter to the editor april 20 linda bernofsky states 71 school boards require 28 million each to cover the cost of special education ms bernofsky stresses one can see why there are no dollars left to service students and classrooms in the 200102 fiscal year 2661 per cent was earmarked by the ontario government for education 13861 billion from the total ontario budget of 521 billion even after removing the 1988 million along with the 7 billion for teachers salaries we are still left with 66 billion to cover the other expenditures in education but 14 billion to educate two million stu dents looks like a lot of money in fact if a company were to operate a business this way it would have to file for bankruptcy i must have missed the letter to the editor from ms bernofsky in 1995 when premier bob rae only spent 59 billion on education jshaw markham letters policy stouffville tribune 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 letters to the editor 9 heritage rd markham ont l3p 1m3 email letterseconsuncom stouffville tribune serving the community since 1888 he3 dde canadian circulations 1 audit board member ontario press council canadian publications mail product sales agreement 1403419 subscription rates by mail 1 year 6955 thursdays only stouffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd group of newspapers which includes the ajaxpickering news advertiser alliston 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 etobicoke guardian flamborough post georgetown independent acton 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 orillia today oshawawhltbyclaringtonport perry this week peterborough this week richmond hillthomhillvaughan liberal scarborough mirror stouffville tribune todays seniors oxbridge tribune and city of york guardian phone 905 2942200 fax 905 2941538 classified i8oo7433353 distribution 905 2948244 distributioneansuncom dave teetzel informing public of alarming news a balancing act had justine suters mother shelly not been a former employee of the york region newspaper group its possible the community would never have known she was suffering from the same strain of e coli that devastated walkerton york regions public health depart ment had no intention of telling us meanwhile a less deadly but painful bacterium called shigella found its way into greek pasta salad sickening nearly 200 ontario residents grim stories such as this would prompt just about anyone to say public health officials should sound the alert the minute such contamination is sus pected anywhere but a quick glance south of the bor der might provide some perspective ever since it was revealed president george w bush had been warned al qaeda might hijack a plane and didnt act on it american authorities have been quick to issue warnings on every possible threat the fbi warned terrorists might do something to the water in orlando nobody knew what but florida officials issued a warning anyway nothing has been found similarly a warning was issued based on reports terrorists had been talking about blowing up apartment buildings there was no evidence any organization had done anything more than discuss the possibility is every american who lives in an apartment going to move out based on a vague warning will everyone in orlando stop drinking water for a warning to be useful it has to contain enough specific information to take reasonable action in the case of pasta salad a recall notice was issued friday people knew the specific product that could be conta minated the symptoms to watch for and the treatment if you became ill in justines case the community def initely wants to know about a small child suffering from a serious illness but in terms of protecting ourselves theres little public health could say we now know the e coli didnt come from newmarkets water supply or from local restaurants its possible the source was a river near the family farm but we may never know for sure so is public health inciting unneces sary panic by announcing a case of e coli unless it can provide reasonably accurate information about the source maybe but its equally possible that by releasing everything it knows the region could reduce anxiety that could be fuelled by the rumour mill in this case there was every reason to be concerned about justine but no rea son to fear for our own health theres no harm in telling people that imn