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16 stouffvioe suntribune u thursday oct 4 2007 little provincial election debate about managing growth from page t boundaries rather than sprawling further outward the hope is to create worklive play neighbourhoods where you can walk or take transit instead of commuting or driving to do what you need to having accessible transit is a big part of getting so many new people into york region without worsen ing the alreadyterrible gridlock the liberals have moved aggres sively to take the higher ground on the issue the extension of thettc spadi- na subway up into york region has been in the works for years finally getting the goahead in 2006 but dalton mcguinty surprised every one in may when he announced a 175 billion regional transit plan which included extending the yonge line up to richmond hill the progressive conservative party voted against the spadina extension at queens park but local candidates including peter shur- man in thornhill and alex yuan in richmond hill have expressed support for the yonge line whether people will change their carloving ways and make use of it is the big question as for the major parties they must be assuming that sprawl is now being hemmed in because there is little talk about it on the campaign trail there are bits and pieces none of which id describe as dramatic said mark winfield an assistant professor of environmental studies at york university he said the major parties have made scattered promises about improving transit or growing the greenbelt but there is nothing to match the ambitious plans since passed into legislation proposed by the liberals in 2003 paradoxically those plans being in place but not yet fulfilled can create the illusion there is nothing more to do theres a risk of that mr winfield said the problem is that were not done the process of sprawl is continuing to move out wards mr winfield was also the proj ect director of a report from the pembina institute in which york region was the seventhranked community in the province in terms of its sustainability he said he does not see any of the parties bringing a holistic approach to the problems of growth and sustain ability in markham and vaughan densely concentrated transit- oriented neighbourhoods are in the works but places to grows shortcomings are also becoming evident york region has grown more than 20 per cent in the past five years while ontarios popula tion grew six per cent that huge discrepancy has lead to vast fund ing shortfalls with local residents receiving far less than the average ontario resident for crucial social services a recent report by the strong communities coalition found a the pace of growth is so exceedingly rapid if s a game of catch up daniele zanotti ceo united way of york region gap of 16 billion between what the 905 regions need and what they are receiving the pace of growth is so exceedingly rapid its a game of catch up said daniele zanotti united way of york region ceo most crucially while municipal ities are finding new ways to house the 37 million people expected to move to the golden horseshoe area by 2031 they are also asking where they will find the money for hospitals libraries and social ser vices to make those lives comfort able markham mayor frank scar- pitti has been leading the charge asking the province to step to the table with money specifically ear marked for the tremendous growth taking place here in may markham hosted an event celebrating the first anni versary of places to grow and mr scarpitti used the opportunity to praise david caplan the provincial minister of public infrastructure and renewal but also to needle him i know the minister hasnt heard this in the past year but municipalities need more money mr scarpitti said but is anybody taking up that challenge the liberals have said they are awaiting word from the provincialmunicipal fiscal and service delivery review set to report in early 2008 on who should be paying for what in the mean time the government has taken steps to upload some of the costs downloaded onto municipalities under the harris regime most significantly they are phasing out gta pooling a system under which local residents sent 85 million to fund social services in toronto progressive conservatives have said they would have the delivery review report completed this year so they can implement changes in a spring budget for now they have promised to invest 85 billion in the health care system over four years includ ing growth funding earmarked for regions such as the 905 that con stitutes progress but it is still just a drop in the bucket ongoing funding and a 1 bil lion lump sum would be a start but no one is offering that just yet these are all big dollar figures but they should not distract from the very real impact on families whether it is fewer womens shel ters or longer waits for therapy local residents are feeling the impact in very tangible ways and they will get worse if the funding situation is not rectified in the near future if you have a 100000 family income and are in the market for a detached home in york region you should be okay if on the other hand you are looking for a cheap home to start your family or heaven forbid an apartment to rent you will have a much tougher road ahead yes more highrises than ever before are going up as are sub divisions with greater densities but shaking york region out of its singledetached stupor is a long- term effort mr winfields pembina institute report ranked york region 27th out of 27 ontario communities in terms of the diversity of its hous ing stock and starter homes of 300000 or less are virtually extinct south of the oak ridges moraine as for the rental market it is so anemic as to make the housing market look soft condominiums are becom ing increasingly normal north of steeles with severallandmark high- rises in early stages but the same cannot be said for rental units with over 5000 people on the regions waiting list for subsidized housing and an average wait approaching eight years the prob lem is already critical the liberal platform does pledge to create a longterm strate gy for affordable housing but what that will be remains to be seen the tories have countered that they would look into expanding coop housing but their platform otherwise skips over the issue overall it seems that while the major parties have some potential ly good ideas about steps that need to be taken no one has yet made the leap to formulating a solution sjouffville pentecostal ckuich 6853 main street sunday october 7 2007 thanksgiving sunday 1000 am serving our community pastor paul hilsden kidsville for ages 2 grade 8 wednesday at 700 pm kidz club ages 5 grade 5 junior youth grades 6 7 8 ladies exercise class marriage course sunday evenings oct 14 dec 2 call church at 9056405696 for information wwwspckidsca rii m zssm springvale baptist church epr m stouffville rd at kennedy rd 9058875651 svwwspringvaleorg senior pastor bob flemming youth family jay sandiford student ministries alex street childrens ministries sharonrussell counselling services karla kamerman october 7th 2007 945 am thanksgiving celebration service pastor jay sandiford 1111 am sunday school for all ages am ays 1000 w a 13 a v q t atmiddkfield collegiate 0tvv c j i 525 wgjiglen are markham bible chapel message the anchor of the soul questions call us at 4167256155 visit us at wwwharvestmarkhamca email us at infoharvestmarkhamca pastor dave teruel parkview village 12184 ninth line south sunday sunday october 7tii 2007 pastor cameron kauffman fry community mennonrte church 700 pm the anglican parish of christ church 254 sunset blvd stouffville the rev canon robert shields the rev jason prisley associate 905 6401461 sunday october 7th harvest thanksgiving services at 8am 10am nursery and church school at 10am friday october 5th floor hockey in the great hall at 7pm come see wwwstouffvilleanglicanca email adminstouffvilleanglicanca stouffville united church 34 church st n 9056401163 infostouffvilleucca sunday october 7th 2007 1030 am worship service guest minister lillian perigoe the reverend doctor communion service childrens worship baby fold youth spirit r everyone welcome o- website wwwstouffvilleucca welcome to st james presbyterian church rev kathryn strachan minister 6432 main st stouffville phone 9056403151 email stjamesstoufivillebellnetca sunday october 7 service of thanksgiving world communion sunday 1030 am saturday october 27 fall bazaar 930 am to noon a friendly family church f yic bloomington gospel church 13660 ninth line n 905 6424414 rev peter pallant sunday october 14 2007 174th anniversary of bgc 1100 am rev bud penner oftheagc will be our guest speaker in the morning worship service everyone welcome bored with church join the club pathways united church a vibrant and fresh spiritual community offering worship life and faith programming meaningful for all ages in todays society regardless of background come check us out sundays at 1030 am heritage centre 17 anna russell way unionville more info wwwpathwayschurchca or 6474000673 sunday childrens corner teens programming to advertise in the church section please contact tyler duncan at 9052942200 i wmmm