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x r o stouffville suntribune thursday oct 6 2005 suntnbune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stouffville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director production interactive media john futhey advertising director distribution director marketingpartnerships retail flyer sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gord paolucci circulation barry black director circulation systems lynn pashko director debra weller york region printing general manager bob dean editorial liberals still have long way to go sunday marked the second anniver sary of the mcguinty liberals election party heavyweights are no doubt putting the finishing touches on the throne speech which will be read next week is there reason to celebrate in ontario at the unofficial halfway point of the liberals term not according to conservative leader john tory who says ontarians have paid more than 2000 more each in taxes fees and electricity costs since the liberals came to power premier dalton mcguinty has underdelivered and is in over his head mr tory says the freeze on postsecondary tuition fees is about to expire much to the dis may of students who have flooded back to ontarios colleges and universities energy costs are expected to go through the roof this winter the uneven performance of the canadian dollar those looming energy fee hikes and the shakier american economy to which we are so tied make him nervous but despite mr torys predictable gloomy message there is good news in ontario the deficit is smaller than the liberals predicted the liberals are spending money where people need it spent for the most part that includes an announcement this week the province will spend 22 million in york region for additional surgeries and mri exams to reduce waiting lists and 187 million more for palliative care the liberals have also pumped money into the regions three hospitals if it isnt the health care system ontarians want money spent in their schools mr mcguinty promised to reduce class sizes to 20 students by 2007 the premier said there will be even more money for education in next weeks throne speech the message to mcguinty liberals is to keep pecking away at improving schools and hospitals the largest con cerns in york and across ontario mr mcguinty also promised to put the clamps on suburban sprawl and allow growth only around existing pop ulation centres in southern ontario although he delivered an oak ridges moraine protection policy and a green- belt plan theres little evidence it is mak ing a difference theres more work in this area of the province to be done on the growing traffic problems too are ontarians better off two years into dalton mcguintys term yes but theres a long way to go letters to the editor region should assign value to water being wasted re big pipe expansion harmless york region says sept 29 this expansion is anything but harmless one hundred per cent of the residents of my ward are dependent on private wells for their water over the last 18 months at least 11 property owners in my ward including two farmers with herds of cattle have lost all or almost all of their water supply requiring them to spend money to drill deeper wells york region claims this has nothing to do with its dewatering for the big pipe something is depleting the aquifers and resi dents in my ward are becoming increasingly wor ried in my opinion the region has made disturbing assumptions in its evaluations of alternatives for on constructing the big pipe it has assumed there is an unlimited supply of groundwater and the value of the water being wasted is zero water is a precious and finite resource not to be wasted dewatering is not only causing dam age to the natural environment it is being lost forever as a future source ofwater supply for our rural and agricultural residents water has value york region should be assigning a value to the water being wasted and including that in any costbenefit analysis of alternatives being con sidered for the big pipe a litre of water bought in a store today costs more than 1- so what if the value of only 01 a penny per litre were assigned to the water the stouffville suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the stouffville suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 34 civic ave po box 1 54 stouffville l4a 7z5 email jmasonyrngcom being wasted what would the cost be based on the current rate of 20000 litres per minute per minute 20000 x 01 200 per hour 200 x 60 12000 per day 12000 x 24 288000 per month 288000 x 30 864 million per year 864 million x 12 10368 million more than 103 million ofwater is being wast ed per year and dewatering has been going on for several years already if york region factored this amount of money or even a fraction of it into its analysis of alter natives would it be building the big pipe the way it is or would they have adopted different tech nologies or different options i would like to think so this situation is outrageous a finite precious resource is being wasted forever and our rural residents will wind up paying the price york region needs to stop the dewatering and find a better way clyde smith councillor town ofwhitchurchstouffv1lle editorial production managing director new editorial editor manager business flyer sales 905640261218668461889 suntnbune jim mason jmasonyrngcom pam nichols pnlcholsymgcom dawna andrews dandrewsymgcom fax9052941538 advertising a york region newspaper group community newspaper administration advertising managing director 9056402612 classified the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is office manager vivian oneil classified manager ann campbell real estate mikerogerson i8oo7433353f 9058531765 a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community voneilymgcom acampbellymgcom mrogersonymgcom distribution 9052948244 publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and events management retail manager thomhihvaughan otoenthe economist sun markham shows manager stacey allen owsan mrf0 the erabanner newmarketaurora stouffville suntribune gcorgina advocate york region business times north of the bonnie rondeau satlcnymgcom and bow member co city yorkregjoncom and york region printing bmrukauymgcom off the top with jim mason taking back our streets one walk at a time some folks in our midst are mark ing international walk to school week by what else walking to school its a pretty simple concept hoof it to school with the children to demonstrate the physical benefits of exercise while at the same time tak ing back your neighbourhood from whatever evil forces may lurk in the culdesac it will be a far cry from the scene at most elementary and even some high schools on all other weekday mornings a parade of minivans trucks and suvs resembling a presidential motorcade makes the slow crawl as short as one block to the school parking lot where children are left in the safety of classmates and teach ers the scene is repeated in reverse every afternoon back in my day a ride to school was a rare treat reserved for days of extremely nasty weather minor ill ness or the delivery of oversized sci ence fair projects and it wasnt just school trans portation we walked to hockey practice and rode our bikes to scouts parents rarely attended minor hockey games and little league baseball games these days parents leave work early to play chauffeur on every road trip mind you there werent two or three escalades in every driveway back then moms stayed home to have a hot lunch on the table for you and the neighbourhood school was a heck of lot closer to everyones home than it is today and we hadnt yet heard about children like christine jessop being abducted child molesters were dirty little secrets who werent pros ecuted or at least we didnt hear about them its a timid new world out there children id like to say its for the better but amidst the ipods digital cameras and cellphones the size of matchbooks weve lost something money cant buy our children walking them to school might bring back some of that a 10- minute stroll has to be healthier than a twominute drive climaxed by lining up with a bunch of other idling gas guzzlers jim mason is editor of the sun- tribune