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economist suntribune thursday sept 5 2002 stouffville tribune serving the community since 1888 a metroland community newspaper 9 heritage rd markham ont l3p 1m3 publisher ian proudfoot editorial new federal riding boundaries sensible most aurorans are likely too busy to care about in which riding they will vote during the next federal election most of the towns 43000 residents are working paying bills driving their children to and from extracurricular activities and getting on with their lives they have better things to do than make a fuss about the name of a new federal riding or why the town is being sliced for political pur poses if auroras residents actually did develop a deep interest in political boundaries however most would find the proposals logical and fit ting taking into consideration population equality as well as geographical environmen tal and economic similarities elections canada has proposed to split aurora down yonge street and make the grow ing east side of town share its politicians with whitchurchstouffville and rural parts of markham all three areas are sitting on environmental ly sensitive land and share many of the same interests the new riding would be called oak ridgesmarkham it makes good sense if you look at a map because aurora has a lot more in common with stouffville than it ever had with vaughan meanwhile the tiny west sliver of aurora and the bulk of the towns population would share a new riding called newmarket-king- aurora the federal electoral boundaries commission for ontario revealed it also wants to deal with yorks exceptional population growth by creating separate new ridings called vaughan and richmond hill it would split the current riding of york north combining georgina and east gwillimbury with part of simcoe county for a riding called york northsimcoe oak ridges would lose most of richmond hill keeping only the northern part of town despite any logistics regarding population having aurora west ofyonge left to another rid ing called newmarketkingaurora is an arrangement aurora councillor john west and vaughankingaurora mpp greg sorbara were quick to say theyll oppose perhaps its an identity crisis aurora politi cians are struggling with they have been lobbying for a new bound ary since 1994 when the town was linked with vaughan whatever the reasons auroras electoral boundary changes arent likely to make much difference to average homeowners paying taxes in aurora the issue has given some people in town a reason to make noise however then again a little political attention from the liberals during their tumultuous leader ship squabbles might not hurt opinion letters to the editor antismoking crusade is attempt to take away publics freedom re no system can remove cigarette carcino gens letter to the editor by jack heath aug 29 although it was a respectable effort on the part of mr heath to explain his proposal for a total smoking ban he has failed to address some of the more vital concerns regarding this- issue when we endeavour to look past the reports of advisory committees another truth is exposed i will riot attempt to argue with the findings of numerous scientific studies the dangers of smoking have been sufficiently proven however what any rational person should object to is the way in which our government is attempting to destroy our freedom in our society we have the right to make personal choices and in this case it is our right to smoke if we so choose likewise it is the right of a restaurant owner to choose how he or she runs their business the only exception to those rights is when our actions result in the violation of another individuals rights the argument of secondhand smoke has been addressed numerous times without the understanding that it is also the choice of non smoking customers to patronize the establish ment should they believe it is detrimental to their health diey are by no means forced to enter the building should the owner then feel the economist sunstouflwlle thbune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the economist sundtribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 9 heritage rd markham l3p1m3 email letterseconsuncom that smoking is resulting in a loss of customers it is his or her right to disallow smoking i am not a smoker but that is my choice when a government seeks to eliminate the freedom of its citizens we must question where to draw the line erik fletcher unionville politician correct to fight for smoking ban in york region re politicians antismoking vendetta out of touch with reality letter to the editor by jack sands aug 24 smoking is a nuisance to the public i think it is right that vaughan councillor joyce frustaglio bans tobacco i agree with mr sands banning drugs will not solve the illegal drug problem but a ban would at least not help proliferate it the same goes for smoking johannengel markham editorial editor jim mason ilciusroomeconsttncoin advertising retail sales manager steve kane stetrekiliclibemlcom sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews daiulretvscrabannercom classified manager ann campbell annceralxinnercom real estate manager mike rogerson production electronic communications manager john futhey jftiilicyyrngcom distribution distribution manager barry black bblackerabannercom administration office manager vivian oneil voneileconsuncom york region events specialsyrngcom managing director debraweller debratveconsuncom shows manager staceyallen staceyaeconsuncom york region printing general manager bob dean bdeanymgcom editorial 9052942200 fax 294538 advertising 2942200 classified 1-800- 7433353 x 8534626 distribution 9052948244 canadian ontario press circulations audit council board member stouffville tribune serving the community since 1888 a york region newspaper group the stouffville tribune published every tuesday thursday and saturday is a mem ber of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned sub sidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thomhill vaughan citizen markham economist sun stouffville tribune stouffville sun georgina advocate york region business times at home good life yorkregioncom and york region printing editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director marketing new product development brenda larson advertising director retail flyer sales nicole mathieu advertising director classified real estate events management gordpaolucci dave teetzel illegal deficits york has been there done that whatever challenges york regions school boards face in the coming year their leaders say they have at least one reason to be happy they arent toronto hamilton or ottawa those boards couldnt stomach the cuts required to balance their budgets as required by law so the ministry of education has taken over appointing axemen to do the dirty work but can we afford to be smug or is it only a matter of time before we find ourselves in the same position after all the york catholic board squeaked out a balanced budget this year but warned it wont be able to repeat the feat without more funding the province is reviewing the fund ing formula and administrators are optimistic schools will get more money for teachers and building maintenance reality is the local catholic board beat toronto to the punch in running an illegal deficit to force a showdown with the government back in the 90s it ran a deficit to protest funding policies and suffered a similar humiliating slapdown back then our schools were crammed because it took forever for the province to approve a school the catholic board ran up its deficit building much needed schools without funding the current formula has allowed schools to be built much more quickly torontos 90million deficit on the other hand is a result of refusing to close schools back when education was funded primarily from property taxes the city benefited from significant business tax dollars and spent far more per pupil than any other board that meant good programs and quality facilities but the new funding formula says this is what it costs to educate a stu dent in ontario and funds boards based on the number of students torontos enrolment isnt growing like ours so it can no longer afford to pro vide services people count on thanks to its rebellious past yorks catholic board has already been through cutting valued programs one of toronto trustees main argu ments is their schools heed more fund ing because they cope with big city issues such as large populations of esl and special needs students york region faces these issues in fact catholic board chairperson elizabeth crowe says the special edu cation population in her schools is growing faster than the mainstream meanwhile the number of special education teachers in public elemen tary schools has been cut from 122 five years ago to 60 now according to local union president wendy van stralen