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mvnhmkrbmamnan sunday shopping discussed at nk meeting merchants tc decide the christmas shopping issue in vvhitchurchstouffville ps in time for holiday rush satbommarito staff reporter whitchurchstouffville mer chants will be given the opportuni ty to voice their opinions xm the s uhday shopping issue at the stouffville downtown business improvement area meeting on november25 were leaving it up to the mem bership to decide whether they to open on sunday said stouffville downtown chairperson sandra i stronach the bias executive board met on november 13 when the sunday shopping issue was discussed said stronach who favors opening on sundays prior to christmas im going to be open said ystrdnach owner of freckles on fmain street i think we need to try and pro- mbte sunday shopping we have to keep people in stouffville she said meanwhile legislation which would allow stores in ontario to stay open on sundays during the christmas shopping season isnt expected to be passed until decem ber 1 the whole issue of sunday shop ping has become a political football between the province and its municipalities in some municipalities during the municipal elections voters were asked if they were for or against sunday shopping in some cases voters were strongly in favor of allowing sunday shopping stronach is hoping whitchurch- stouffville merchants will support sunday shopping at least for the four sundays prior to christmas however the issue is much more complicated than that stronach would eventually like to see shops staying open on sundays year- round there are some who arent in agreement but theres a lot of peo ple who come to the flea market on saturdays and sundays said stronach chamber of commerce presi dent larry rogalski is very enthusiastic about the issued he said mer- chants who want fk isji t0 p sundays f ssrj should have the i jit inn option especial- rogalski l in light of the sharp decline in retail sales by all means i support it if it benefits the merchants said rogalski he said opening the four sundays before christmas is a fantastic idea the enormous amount of traffic which passes through stouffville on weekends shows there is a demand for business on sundays the popularity of the flea market oh weekends also reflects the demand he said we have to know how to tap into it he said were a tourist town we have attractions we dont know what to do with said rogalski who sat on the towns economic development committee a solution to the issue will only be achieved with the chamber the bia and the town working closely together he said weve just recently started working together said rogalski rogalski acknowledges however the difficulty incbnvineing all mer chants of the benefits of staying l open on sundays opposition to sunday shopping has been voiced by oneowner businesses who refuse to stay open seven days a week he said i they would have to hire some one to work sundays said rogalski i bnubhi sasgs municipal election turnout pegged at 45 per cent sal bommarito staff reporter the good news is more whitchurchstouffville residents exer cised their right to vote in this weeks election than in the last one the bad news is voters are more frustrated and dissatisfied with the democratic process overall 45 per cent of the 14000 residents eligible voted in tuesdays election said bob panizza the towns chief adminis trative officer that number is high compared to other municipalities the average voter turnout in most municipalities usually ranges between 35 and 45 per cent he said some have less depending on the issues and the candidates said panizza when there are two or more candidates running for mayor it results in good voter turnout we also had a number of good candidates in the wards he said while the figures are encouraging the reasons for the high numbers of people who went to the polls this week may not be a high voter turnout is also a good indicator of voter dissatisfaction and tough econom ic times said panizza the correlation between high voter turnoutand bad times is evident if you look at the numbers for the last provincial election said panizza when the economy is sluggish people participate a lot more than when things are good he said panizza believes if a federal election were held the same would hold true a community such as stouffville which has a high ethnic population usually has a high voter turnout he said the same is true for other communities in and around metro toronto he said some people take the right to vote for granted he said the actual number of whitchurchstouffville citizens who voted is between 6500 and 6800 something panizza attributes partly to a good race between mayor fran sainsbury and chal lenger wayne emmerson when all the votes were in sainsbury came out on top by less than 300 votes after emmerson took the lead early in the voting can you imagine what would have happened if another 4000 had come out to vote who knows what the impact could have been added panizza a voter turnout of 100 per cent would be ideal said panizza but unrealistic people should take time to exercise their franchise the right to vote and get involved with their municipalities he said people who dont take the time cant complain when a certain candidate gets voted in he added vvfv xvniiki 4 4 44 4 4 4 4 444 4 4 44 44 444 4 4 4 44 4 4 4 44 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 44 4 4vvwiviyvuwiyil i i jt fi