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economist suntribune thursday august 22 2002 stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave stouflville ont l4a 7z5 opinion telephone 905 2942200 416 7987624 fax 905 2941538 email newsroomeconsuncom publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly director of advertising debra welter editor classified manager jim mason ann campbell production manager retail sales manager pam nichols stephen mathieu distribution manager inside sales manager barry black stacey allen electronic business manager communications robert lazurko manager office manager john futhey vivian 0 editorial heaths nosmoking curve ball misses strike zone why throw a curve ball into york regions nosmoking bylaws this late in the game markham councillor jack heath a member of the regions tough antismoking committee now wants to abolish designated smoking rooms dsrs even though many pub owners have already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to install them the bylaw restricts smoking to 25 per cent of occupiable floor space in bars bowling alleys pool halls and other places where the public convenes where was mr heath two months ago when the canadian restaurant and foodservices association offered to test air quality in a local restaurant with the installa tion of an alternative sophisticated air exchange system he was there the committee including mr heath agreed to the test paid for by the association and monitored over a fourmonth period the committee including mr heath even instructed regional staff in june to discuss the alternative technology with the restaurant association which said the method is far less expensive and just as effective as the 100000 dsrs many restaurants have already installed why didnt mr heath stand up at that meet ing and announce his wish for a total indoor smoking ban why has he waited two months to fire off a media release announcing york toronto and peel should finish the job and abolish dsrs and why wasnt this latest push issued through the committee instead of on town of markham letterhead is the committee on board this latest pitch to improve public health only hurts its credibility it smacks of political grandstanding and shows a disregard for work already under way by the hospitality industry and regional staff it also seems odd mr heath would want to abolish dsrs after fighting several months ago on behalf of bingo halls for an exemption to the bylaw allowing half the floor space in the charityrun facilities be designated dsrs lets hope mr heath has answers for fedup restaurant and pub owners when the two sides meet to discuss this latest twist to an already tumultuous social issue letters to the editor stouffville not prejudiced people just want smalltown atmosphere re is stouffville only for wealthy families a column by joan ransberry aug 15 joan ransberry basically said we are prej udiced against lowerincome families and immigrants i am the 12yearold girl she quoted in her article and my words were taken out of context the words affordable housing were told to us by land developers and i dont believe them for one minute the first priority devel opers have is their profit margins because of the cost of housing in the greater toronto area it is becoming increas ingly difficult to define affordable i doubt any of these homes planned for stouffville even if they are small will be affordable my parents are immigrants and worked hard to get where they are today just like other immigrants in stouffville unfortunately everything is very expen sive no matter where we live today try to rent an apartment you would probably be pay ing 1000 per month stereotyping the citizens of stouffville is very unfair many of them are not rich but hardworking people i dont believe anyone is trying to put a drawbridge on stouffville they just want to live in a smalltown atmos phere which is becoming harder to find alyshadesouza stouffville thanks to all for successful markham jazz festival on behalf of the committee of the markham jazz festival i would like to extend our sincere appreciation to all the many won derful fans who attended our fifth annual jazz festival you made us feel all the work we put into the lengthy preparation of this event was well worthwhile the artists who appeared this year and gave such great performances all expressed the feeling of being well received by fans many of them asked to come back next year to enjoy this atmosphere for four glorious days we basked in the adulation from so many who came out and thoroughly enjoyed themselves we had wonderful cooperation from the weather businesses pubs and restaurants on unionville main street and surrounding areas markham theatre staff york regional police security staff the economist and suntribune and all the exceptional volun teers they made us feel truly grateful about the community we live in thank you markhamunionville for allowing us to bring this festival to your door we look forward to making it even bigger and better for 2003 hal a hill artistic directorpresident markham jazz festival letters policy stouffville tribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the newspaper reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 9 heritage rd markham ont l3p 1m3 email lettendeconsuncom stouffville tribune serving the community since 1888 ope cca canadian circulations audit board member ontario press council subscription rates by mail 1 year 6955 thursdays only stouffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd group of newspapers which includes the ajavpickering news advertiser alliston heraldcourier barrle advance barrys bay this week bolton enterprise brampton guardian burlington shopping news burlington post city parent colllngwoodwasaga connection east york mirror erin advocatecountry routes etobicoke guardian ramborough post georgetown independent acton free press kingston this week lindsay this week midland penetanguishene mirror milton canadian champion milton shopping news mississauga news newmarket- aurora georgjna erabanner northumberland news north york mirror oakville beaver oakville shopping news orillia today oshawawhitbyclaringtonport perry this week peterborough this week richmond hillthomhillvaughan liberal scarborough mirror stouffville tribune todays seniors uxbridge tribune and city of york guardian phone 95 6402612 fax 905 2941538 classified 18007433353 distribution 9052948244 distributioneconsuilcom debora kelly we must invest in public education its tough being an ardent supporter of public education these days im secondguessing my loyal ty to a system i believe is not only inspiring a love of learning in my chil dren but preparing them well for a suc cessful future heaven knows students have been leaving the battlescarred system in droves since mike harris common sense revolution began to take its toll private schools have seen enrolment skyrocket thanks to parents who can afford to pay to avoid the hassles of strikes staff cuts burgeoning classes and dwindling supplies and equipment would i gleefully jump on the band wagon if i suddenly had bags of money at my disposal who am i kidding i would but i havent lost any sleep over the fact my kids are left behind in the public school down the street despite all the bad news much of it grand standing and politicking on the contrary their amazing sup portive teachers inspired my every con fidence the system still works my kids eagerly went out the door to class each day they had the textbooks and materi als they needed their school offers lots of extracurricular activities theres even a music program so why i am wondering if thats good enough because its not for thousands of other parents and children apparenuy a study last week indicated the num ber of private tutoring franchises in ontario grew by 60 per cent from 245 to 396 between 1996 and 2000 the study by mcmaster university researchers suggests the growth of pri vate tutoring may alter the face of con temporary schooling no longer just for homework help the centres have aggressively and obviously successfully taken advan tage of the crisis in education they are selling their services as an essential complement to the public system obviously a lot of parents think the public system isnt up to the job if thafs true why the heck are they simply let ting the province off the hook we all are not only are children being pulled from neighbourhood schools and sac rifices being made to meet monthly payments for tutoring parents are dig ging deep to pay for basic supplies and equipment that should be funded by the government in ontario alone parent fundraising has grown to 37 million a year accord ing to people for education that too only underscores inequities when schools are funded by donations the quality of education is a direct reflec tion of the communitys wealth the provincial government has to stop stalling on revising the funding for mula for schools we must give the public education system the investment it needs to pro vide every child an equal opportunity in life our countrys future depends on it j 41 a