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economist sunsuntribune saturday sept 20 2003 suntnbune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave stouflvilie on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot letters to the editor selling off public assets whimsical shortsighted when i was a younger student of politics and politicians i naively believed at least part of a politicians responsibility was to safeguard those infrastructure assets approved through the democratic process built with public money and maintained because it was the will of the people it be so in this way canada first opened and then developed its extraordinary geograph ic expanse i this process was not confined to one or two political mandates it was the com- pounded work of centuries the efforts of each successive government became the foundation for those of the next it seems i blinked in 1995 and in that moment of blindness ontario voters elected a government that thought public assets were not the cumulative effort of genera tions instead they were considered personal privately owned toys to be disposed of in a manner that could at worst be described as whimsical and at best shortsighted hwy 407 could have relieved at least some of our gridlock been accessible to all who contribute to the public purse and been a jewel in the crown of ontario infrastruc ture instead it has become what much of the rest of me wonderful- assets ontarians once possessed have become a luxury accessible only to the elite those with money or corporate accounts v r selling the 407 to pay public debt is like selling your food supply to pay your visa bill it seems like a great idea for three or four hours like esau me shortsighted character from the bible we contmue to grow a fool ish visiqnless government to sell our birthright for a bovvlof soup roderick j mcdonald markham public education important despite government attitude the ernie evesmike harris agenda has been all about privatization and deregula- tion we have wimessed the consequences of sloppy inspection procedures with walkertons water and now meat from aylmer we pay exorbitant rates for a privately owned toll road hwy 407 and now the tories are taking money from my children in the public education system and giving it to children in the private system my children dont have access to these schools so where is the justice premier eves letters policy the stouflvilie thbune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less v than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address thetribune reserves the right to publish or not 1 publish and to edit for clarity and space letters to the editor thetribune 9 heritage rd markham on l3p1m3 email lettersfioeonsuncom is proposing a seniors educational tax break which would take more money away from my children and their education do seniors not benefit from students who are well educated c v have we given up on the public school system altogether i hope not mreves and his tories may have decided mat rjie public system is not worth support ing but i hope ontarians young and old rec ognize its fundamental importance to the growth and prosperity of our communities lorihall unionville where evidence trudeau a socialist re trudeau socialisiwho hurt army letter to the editor by kirk sutherland sept 13 there goes mr sutherland raging against the decision to name dorval airport in montreal after pierretrudeau i agree this offends just as naming all public monuments institutions highways and schools after politicians offends but what irks me about his letter is declaring the former prime- minister as a socialist wheres the evidence the proof was mr trudeau ever a member of socialist international was he ever a card- carrying member of the new democratic party the only true democratic and socialist party in canada v v did he support or was he supported by trade unions i think not mr sutherland condemns mr- trudeau for imposing the war measures act in the 1970s so did the ndp unions condemned mr trudeau for imposing the wage and price controls even though he had vowed in the previous elec tion to dono such thing i noticed mr- sutherland makes no such condemnation even though as a teacher he was probably a member of an ontario teachers federation which was badly affect ed by this unionbashing legislation no mr sutherland like most conserva tives judges all politicians who are not right- wing as socialists v true historians understand some ppliti caj partiessuch as the liberal party occupy the middle of the political spectrum that means they sometimes vote on the left for progressive laws sometimes on the right for reactionary laws but always promising anything to remain in power such was pierre elliott trudeau detested by the rightwing parties and the left but never by any stretch of the imagination a socialist james p b kelly markham edriorinchief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director of production johnfutliey advertising director retail flyer sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gofd paolucci david suzuki suburban sprawl bad for people planet t his month millions of children around north america went back to school but most didnt walk or ride their bikes no these days most of those kids were driven and its making them fat in fact our suburban carcentric society is partly responsible for the nearepidemic levels of obesity for all age groups in north america according to recent reports in the american journal of public health and american journal of health promotion researchers developed a sprawl index to measure patterns of development in communities across the united states they then compared levels of suburban sprawl with the health of 200000 people living in those communities based on responses from a riationalhealth survey their results show a startling correlation between sprawl and obesity in fact people living in the most sprawling communities were likely to weigh six pounds more than s those hyirig in the most dense compact communities there was also a relationship to chronic disease those living in sprawl ing communities- were found to be more likely to suffer from high blood pressure for many people living in me suburbs the car is by far the most convenient trans portation choice to daily destinations many suburbs lack safe bicycle or pedestri an routes some dont even have sidewalks so while morethan 70 per cent of their parents walked or rodebicycles to school just 18 per cent of todays schoolchildren in the us dp the same canadian cities are on the whole more bicycle and pedestrianfriendly today 12 per cent of our urban trips are made by foot or bike but we still pale in comparison to the dutch and germans 0 walk or bike to some 40 per cent of their destinations the emphasis on the car is not only making us fatter its causing other health problems such as asthma more cars on our roads means more air pollution which can trigger respiratory problems to buckthe trend we have to reengineer physicalactivitybackintbourlifestyiesthat means redesigning our cities to be more dense and compact with better bike paths and pedestalfriendly walkways take the nature challenge and learn more at wwwdawdsuzukiorg editorial editor jim mason newsroomeconsuncom advertising v retail sales manager stevekahe skdneyrngcom sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews dandrewsymgcom classified manager ann campbell acampbettymgcom real estate manager mike rogerson mrogersonymgcom production production manager pam nichols pnlcholsyrngcom- pistribution distribution manager barry black bblackymgcom administration office manager vivian oneil voneilymgcom york region events managing director debra weller dweuerymgcom shows manager stdcey allen v sallenymgcom york region printing genera manager bob dean bdeanymgcom editorial 9052942200 fax2941538 advertising 2942200 classified i-800- 7433353 p 8534626 distribution 9052948244 canacban ontario press oreulatlorts audit council board member suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper trestoufmlletrtojne published wery thursday and saturday is a member of the metrctomlmn8ngrwiswngarki distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of tbrstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hi ardlhornhiilvaughan citizen markham economist sun swuffvioe suntribune georgna advocate york region business tones north of tf vwkregtoncom 3rd york regon printing