Wednesdsay March 22, 2000 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER PAUL HARRIS FELLOW : Jean Hughes accepts the Paul Harris Fellowship on behalf o f her husband Bill Hughes (inset), who played Santa Claus in O akville's annual Christmas parades for 49 years. Friday's 4th annual Southern Ontario Rotary Fellowship Dinner was hosted by O akville's four Rotary Clubs at O tello's Banquet Hall. With her to accept the award are daugh ters Ann Girard (left) and Heather Dixon. Hughes is cur rently in O akville Trafalgar M emorial Hospital. The Paul Harris Fellowship is the high est honour given by Rotary. Photo by Peter J. Thompson Looking for an answ er to your h e a lth problem s/ See our insert in today's Oakville Beaver or call C iiik o p k a c t ic F ik s t 8 2 7 -2 4 4 4 for more information Restructuring '905' area inevitable David O 'Brien guided Hamilton-Wentworth through change and the writing's on the wall for By Sandra Omand SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Oakville could become a quaint memory if the municipal amalgamations sweeping the rest of Ontario continue into the 905 area code. David O 'Brien, City Manager of Mississauga, and special advisor for the Ontario government on restructuring Hamilton-Wentworth, believes the time has come to restructure the 905 regions. Over the past few months, the regions of Ottawa, Hamilton, Sudbury and Haldimand-Norfolk have undergone amalgamation. The new mega-city of Toronto is in place and all that remains untouched are the four independent regions -- Halton, Peel, York and Durham -- surrounding it. O 'Brien, addressing the Canadian Club of Oakville Monday night, said the reason the eight area mayors recently got together to offer a proposal for the 905 region is because the obvious next step is for them to amalgamate. `T he economic engine of Canada is faltering," said O 'Brien. "Every single region has its own agenda and is focused locally, not regionally. You need a broad strategy drawn for this part of the coun try." O 'Brien told the dinner meeting at the Ramada Inn, that the solution is to restructure the Greater Toronto Services Board (GTSB) giving it new powers and reduce the number of municipalities. He argued that by making these changes, the entire GTA would begin to work as a "common economic unit," rather than dis parate regions promoting their "parochial" con cerns. "I am propos ing one broad body that pro vides the interre gional services (currently there are four), reduc ing the 25 munic ipalities down to David O 'Brien: 8 or 12, so, in the changes should end, you end up benefit GTA with 9-11 levels of government versus 30," said O'Brien. He said experience has shown that urban municipalities can be very effi cient in the 300,000 to 700,000 range and still continue to meet the test of accessibility. In July 1999 Oakville's population was 132,000. O 'Brien said by eliminating the four regions and giving the GTSB new pow ers over services that cross regional boundaries, such as public transporta tion, situations like the current dispute between Mississauga and Toronto over transit service would not occur. At the moment the Toronto Transit Commission is refusing to let M ississauga buses unload at the Islington subway station forcing Mississauga commuters to find other ways of commuting into Toronto. A new GTSB could also address the traffic congestion occurring daily on the QEW, 401, 403 and now the 407, he said. O 'Brien pointed out that the ability of an area's economy to grow is directly proportionate to its ability to move goods and services in and out of that area. The only way we can move goods and services around the GTA is by road transportation. But O'Brien said that system is fail ing us. Worse, it is collapsing around us. "If it is allowed to collapse complete ly, the economy of the GTA is going to fail," said O 'Brien. "People are going to say `I'm not going to put my business in the GTA because the transportation can't accommodate my business - I'm going to take my business and put it in Peterborough because there are no traf fic jams there.'" He said there is no longer room for separate regional plans if there is to be stability across the 905 areas. "The regions have outlived their use fulness and cannot act as four separate units to the benefit of the GTA," said O 'Brien. He said there is a potential for sav ings of $100 million per year across the entire 905 Regions by eliminating dupli cation of costs and expenditures on oper ating and capital infrastructure. O'Brien said one of the main imped iments to making this change, however, is that "people basically don't want change." In an interview after the meeting, O 'Brien said Oakville residents should not fear the community will lose its identity with amalgamation. "Some municipalities might lose their name on a piece of paper, on a for mal charter, but the community is still there," said O'Brien. "I have a hard time with people saying they will lose their identity." He predicts that the province will not announce restructuring until sometime next year, after the November 2000 municipal elections. The restructuring would then be completed in time for the next municipal elections in 2003. O PEN H O U SE Cleaner, Competitive Electricity for Ontario's New, Open Market Sithe invites all interested persons to review and comment on our proposal to develop a state-of-the-art, 800 MW, natural gasfired, combined cycle power station. Designed to employ the latest in proven electricity generating technologies and emission control systems, Southdown Station would be the cleanest facility of its type anywhere in Canada. The proposed site is located at 797 Winston Churchill Boulevard, on a 14-hectare (35 acre) parcel of land in the Southdown Employment Area. Our plans for Southdown Station w ill be displayed and Sithe staff w ill be available to answer questions at an Open House to be held at: Green Glade Senior Public School 1550 Green Glade Rattray Park Estates, Mississauga Wednesday, March 29, 2000 5:00 - 10:00 p.m. ..................................................... 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