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local politicians oppose bid for sunday shopping by steve houston staff reporter the ontario government is pas- sing the political buck in its bid to leave the sunday shopping issue with municipalities charge local politicians and councillors here fear a domino effect could force local merchants to open in a bid to keep customers says regional coun cillor bud bonner he suggests the issue be put be fore local residents for a vote next year the province is throwing the whole thing back in the lap of the municipalities bonner said this week theyre telling them to look after enforcement of provin cial legislation the comments come in the wake of the provinces proposed sunday shopping legislation that will make the open or close deci sion a municipal one it will likely be introduced at queens park early next year he said local merchants outside the alreadyexempted tourist areas of unionville and markham will probably be forced to open be- cause of their proximity to metro and though not opposed to sun day openings bonner believes a day should be set aside for rest regulations to protect em ployees who work sundays should also be implemented he said there should only be a five- bud bonner referendum day work week it doesnt matter what five days he concluded york regional chairman eldred king called the proposed legislation unfortunate but said hed consider a regional jurisdiction over the issue if brought forward the legislation still remains very provocative king noted we need direction from only one source and that should have been the provincial government meanwhile two of markhams largest commercial centres are preparing to open their doors to local consumers on boxing day this year via a loophole in current legislation a large number of merchants at markhams markville shopping centre plan to do boxing day business as will sears in the shops on steeles and 404 plaza but markham and stouffvilles canadian tire stores have indi cated they will remain closed for the holiday and eatons at mark ville shopping centre says its doors will be closed as well in the long run regional coun cillor ron moran says sunday shopping legislation will create demands for more than just con sumer services he fears the day of rest princi ple thats longgoverned store closings will be overshadowed with that demand and he say s its inevitable that professional ser vices will be expected and now youll have a larger labor bill that will have to be pas sed onto the product or service he noted but an indication from the pub lic is needed to help municipali ties rule on the issue if passed says regional councillor frank scarpitti an opponent of wideopen sun day shopping policies scarpitti believes markhams family- oriented population is busy with other activities if there are people who want to shop on sundays there are areas they can be accommodated in the town he said massive highrise plan opposed by residents by steve houston staff reporter a group of markham resi dents is gearing up this month to fight a huge residential de velopment scheme they fear will dwarf their tiny com munity the site is east of hwy 48 south of rouge st and north of chatelaine dr the residents many of whom have been living in the hwy 48 area south of hwy 7 for several years face a plan that will attract some 2000 new re sidents to the community it calls for three highrise buildings varying in height from nine to 14 storeys a new commercial centre and 54 tow- niiomes residents oppose a mammoth highrise scheme in their neighbor hood south of rouge st north of chatelaine dr and east of hwy 48 bill lanning it was referred by planning committee members last tues day to a public meeting in the new year to consider input from local residents peter ross president of the vinegar hill ratepayers asso ciation says the plan is in appropriate and overwhelm ing in the primarily single family and estate residential area and he says the current plan is motivated by market de mands when it should be driven by proper planning meanwhile town officials have pledged that questions re garding the scheme will be answered prior to the public hearing markham mayor carole bell said tuesday traffic impacts hwy 48 improvement plans the need for a new plaza and the presence of government- owned lands on the site must be dealt with before going ahead with the proposal a large portion of the lands are currently owned by the ministry of government ser vices while the provincial transportation ministry has given no commitment to widen hwy 48 in light of that the group is demanding uses that ross says are more compatible with ex- isting development in the area but he insists the residents involved arent anti- development nor are they being governed by a not in my backyard principle thrusting 2000 people and that amount of cars in there is going to create unimaginable problems he said no date has yet been set for the new year weekbejepellb42 198tp3 kg m jim moncada coowner of the paint can etc in unionville mews on hwy 7 stands in front of a hole in the wall made by thieves over the weekend he estimates damage to the entire plaza is about 5000 and about 1000 worth of contents was stolen from his store the thieves entered through a back door in the veterinary clinic and cut through the drywall into five other businesses york regional police are investigating sjoerd witteveen province rams supermailboxes by paul pivato staff reporter the markhambased lobby group ram chalked up another victory thursday in its fight to abolish supermailboxes the ontario legislature over whelmingly approved a resolu tion introduced by markham mpp don cousens and backed by residents against mailboxes ram the stronglyworded resolution calls on the post office to elimin ate its controversial supermail- box program and restore door-to- door mail delivery to all new homes two tory representatives opposed the motion which was supported by 57 mpps from all three parties ram spokesperson anne der- rett called adoption of the resolu tion a big step but said the lob by group still has a long way to go yet cousens said the supermail boxes make second class citizens of new homeowners in urban areas and have turned post office bashing into canadas national passtime the boxes also make it hard for the elderly to get their mail and decrease property values where they are located said cousens he called on the federal govern ment to create an unbiased and politicalfree review board to handle citizens complaints about the post office the markham mpp also label led a canada post plan to pump more advertising dollars into promotion of the supermailboxes utterly reprehensible and repul sive ram will now forward the queens park resolution to muni cipalities across ontario accord ing to derrett she said ram wants municipa lities to formally support the queens park motion even though some towns such as markham have already sponsored similar resolutions opposing the super- mailbox policy we want the support and need the support of all levels of govern ment said derrett york region council endorsed a motion sup porting rams position earlier this year the lobby group contends there are now more than 180000 urban dwellers in ontario who dont re ceive home mail delivery bsnst im r q jj ib sen ttj 38 bt m 7 optics i w wo deliver wc can deliver your flyers for as little i as 35c each call advertising at 294- 2200 or distribution at 2944244 1987 flyers delivered to od 1 f conomiit 4 suntribuitt 11499200 j mf tround dritributing 256111900 flyers with weekender sean field saturday sheraton pjrfcway canadian tire pi jrtun sunday mar mum cleinm searj 1ca super centre ap thomhtll squire ultra mj pascah siway