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economist suntribune the environment thursday dec 19 2002 criticism cost grant cash environmental group says by linda johnson staff writer a provincial agency has cut 200000 in funding from a project to restore wildlife habitat because the environmental group criti cized the government the groups president said two years ago the ontario trillium found ation which distributes money collected from gov ernment casinos to commu nity groups gave save the rouge valley system a five- year grant of 345500 so far it has paid out about 150500 but in a letter of nov 21 the foundations director of grant operations patricia else said the agency had decided to rescind the bal ance of 195000 because of the groups advocacy work however glenn de baeremaeker president of save the rouge said the decision to cut the funding is retaliation for the groups criticism of a government agreement with developers allowing new houses on the oak ridges moraine in richmond hill the government never had a problem not one word of com plaint about our organization until we criticized the ontario gov ernment he said theyre tar geting one group because we ex posed their deal with developers but ms else said the funding was withdrawn because save the rouge had violated advocacy rules introduced last year she said several meetings were held in may and a letter in july warned the group the in a democratic society we should be able to give our opinion grant might be rescinded the only rea son this grant was rescinded was they were asked to meet the con ditions of the grant and they didnt meet these terms she said when the grant was first made she said the founda tion understood the money was solely for a habitat restoration project in the rouge watershed and that restoration was the focus of the groups work that was our under standing of the organization and that was their portrayal of their organization that they did restoration work when the advocacy issue arose we met with them to say as a public insti tution we cant support organizations or initiatives that do advocacy but mr de baeremaeker said the group has no politi cal bias noting it congratu lated the government when it revealed plans to save the moraine a year ago last spring during an annual review of its project mr de baeremaeker said foundation staff asked why the group had changed its mandate at that time save the rouge valley system was told funding would be cut if its campaign continued its simple political blackmail he said they said to us if you criticize the government we will cut your funding but if you stop criticizing it then well give you your money in a democratic society we should be able to give our opinion markville store earns honour coast mountain sports markville shopping centre location has earned its designer an international award parchoma jones design inc a interior design firm specializing in retail services was recently honoured by the international council of shopping centres for its cre ative and functional design of the markham branch the maple leaf award was presented to the firm in the over 10000 square feet category the icsc is the global trade association of the shopping centre industry laura nelles a a a a a a a a 1 1 a a a a a a b davanintl wareh up to suggested retail prices casual wear shoes samples sweater mens wear night dress kids wear ladies wear giftware christmas decorating items 166 bullock dr 3 lobiaw davan intl f 0 bullock dr a i g i s 3 markville mall highway 7 irhurs dec 19 fri dec 20 hi sundec22 thurs night fever with dj bobby boggie okegi ew years mwimmmm call for details 01 3orner of hwy7i1wmrdi since 1s84 ititttttt monday to friday 1100 am 600 pm saturday 900 am 600 pm sunday 1100 am y 500 pm we accept cash only