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6 economist suntribune thursday nov 28 2002 s stouffville tribune serving the community since 1856 a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave stouffville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot editorial mcguinty counting on environment to be tories achilles heel the provincial liberals are staking out york region as a frontline to attack the tories in the next election their primary weapon the environment liberal leader dalton mcguinty this week promised in a 29page report he will stop urban sprawl kill plans already in the works to build houses on the oak ridges moraine step up efforts to drastically reduce landfill trash and send 2 per cent of the provincial gasoline tax to municipalities for public transit the liberals are betting voters see queens park and ontarios greedy developers as cronies at a time when people want green- space preserved sprawl curtailed and action on affordable housing mr mcguinty is building on the success in vaughankingaurora in july 2001 when liberal greg sorbara more than doubled the tally for tory joyce frustaglio in a riding that had been firmly committed to al palladini certainly the environmental turmoil has been centred in richmond hill where the ernie eves government approved 6500 homes on the oak ridges moraine allowing develop ers to bypass local council of course the environmental lobby is happy mr mcguinty is promising to stop con struction of all 6500 homes already approved on the moraine if the election is called soon he might get the chance to stop the housing before its built that however is unlikely he just may find himself stumbling on the reality of his campaign vows if the premier waits the full 18 months avail able to him the liberal leader is likely to be dealing with houses that are sold if not finished it may be good election rhetoric to argue the land belongs to future generations of ontarians but developers bought the land and hold the legal deeds the land is now approved for residential development and if the owners cant build on it they will demand compensation from ontario taxpayers and that may be more than what cash- strapped citizens particularly those not living in the gta are willing to or can cough up mr mcguinty may also find himself negoti ating yet another land swap although with a promise to create a 600000acre greenbelt across the gta he wont have much property available to trade to developers theres no question the liberals are promis ing many things york region desperately needs improving landfill diversion rates to 60 per cent funding for affordable housing pre serving scarce farmland and allocating part of the provincial gas tax to fund transit we should applaud the fact these issues are being brought to the table it means the next election could be fought over issues central to york regions future opinion letters to the editor home care helps hospitals as a refresher student nurse i want to add my voice to those advocating for home care services to be enshrined in our healthcare system the great advantage of home care is it helps relieve pressure on the hospital system patients recover faster in their own com fortable and familiar environment these ser vices are frequently used by seniors and patients who do not have anybody else to take care of them home care promotes the maintenance of health reducing the effects of illnesses and disability it also costs less compared to healthcare facilities it is time to give attention to and full public funding for home care remediosc ramos markham garbage at council no solution re town fed up with teen trouble tribune nov 21 what a wonderful and practical lesson i have learned this past week it appears whenever i have a problem in wwtchurchstouffville all i need to do is pack it in a garbage bag and present my views to town council it works great for me council can expect my garbage from the two schools beside my home pieces of asphalt from my street leaves and weeds from my neighbours lawns and the economist sunstoufiville tribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the economist suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 9 heritage rd markham l3p 1m3 email letterseconsuncom the occasional beer bottle maybe in frustration over the number of folks headed to tim hortons along rupert street who are too in need of a coffee fix to stop at the stop sign at fairview avenue i can include the actual signs they dont seem to be used seriously the next tim e a young person gets charged for possession of marijuana or some other offence regardless of who their parents are or whether they play hockey they should spend some quality community service time picking up garbage a well- worded letter to the courts from whitchurchstouffville council should do the trick ive lived here all my life and the problem is the same find some experts to give those big minds on council and in the local coffee hang outs some real advice you might even find them in our midst and lets all try not to paint all the young people in this town with a swill brush while we are at it i still believe it takes a village or maybe even a town to raise a child sueneufeld stouffville editorial editor jim mason newsroomeconsuncom advertising retail sales manager steve kane slevekyorkregioncom sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews dandrewserabannercom classified manager ann campbell anncerabannercom real estate manager mike rogerson production electronic communications manager john futhey jfutheyyrngcom distribution distribution manager barry black bbiackeconsuncom administration office manager vivian oneil voneileconsuncom york region events managing director debra weller dwelleryrngcom shows manager staceyallen sallenyrngcom york region printing general manager bob dean bdeanymgcom editorial 9052942200 fax 2941538 advertising 2942200 classified 1-800- 7433353 fax 8531765 distribution 9052948244 eeanpe canadian ontario press circulations audit council board member stouffville tribune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the stouffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york regkm newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill andthomhillvaughan citizen markham economist sun stouffville tribune stouffville sun georgina advocate york region business times at home good life yorkregkncom and york region printing editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director marketing new product development brenda larson advertising director retail fever sales nicole mathieu advertising director classified real estate events management gordpaolucci dave teetzel politicians cant compare with power of prayer earlier this month richmond hill hosted yet another hearing over strip joints in this case it was about a bid to turn a country bar into an adult entertainment parlour about 20 people turned out to voice their displeasure most seizing on the probability the applicant anthony panza might be an agent of riccardo di giuseppe whose previous enter prise fantasia left a legacy of sleaze on yonge street years after it closed rev ron pakulat urged council to reject the application prior to the hearings one of the york region newspaper group papers received a letter from jim reid a christian gentleman have we been beaten by the scum of society cant our politicians protect us from these leeches cant the major ity carve out a small community that is sheltered somewhat from the wicked ness that is bombarding our culture his letter asked when vaughan council held hear ings on its adult entertainment policies in the early 1980s people of faith demanded such establishments be banned only to be told council cant make rulings based on moral argu ments please confine your comments to planning issues well it looks like a church in newmarket has shown all these people how its done newmarket community church bought lookers the towns only strip club and is renovating it into a place of worship so how did the congregation go about this for years they held regular friday prayer walks laid hands on the building and called on god to close it pastor andrew wynns says that prayer was answered newmarkets strip club was closed by divine intervention is that a challenge to other york region churches in communities with strip clubs why complain municipal politi cians arent doing enough when according to the bible christians wield power that can move mountains instead of mourning the decline in community standards should they be holding prayer walks of their own if they dont dice the answers they get from politicians why not go over their heads clearly there are those who dont consider this a good thing they would rather the religious right keep its nose out of their business but they have no legitimate quarrel with newmarket community church and its supporters the congregation didnt picket didnt intimidate didnt run a publicity campaign all those people did was pray