The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

6 economist sunsuntribune saturday july 5 2003 a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave stouflviile on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot opinion editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director marketing new product development brenda larson advertising director retail flyer sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gordpaolucci letters to the editor candidate should remain on leave open letter to york regional chair bill fisch i you will recall i wrote to you in december 2002 expressing my concerns regarding the inappropriate partisan actions of the medical l officer of health for york region dn helena jaczek i note dr jaczek has returned to her posi tion effective june 2 following a leave of absence as dr jaczek was determined to use her professional taxpayerfunded position to campaign as the liberal candidate in oak ridges for me upcoming provincial election the leave of absence was quite obviously the correct decision i ask you what hais changed as of june 2 dr jaczek is still the liberal candidate with a website that is clearly partisan in nature and uses her professional position to bolster her candidacy furthermore she boasts of partici pating in partisan activities with current liberal mpps prior toher nomination as the liberal candidate again i question hlr ability of her desire to even attempt to separate her professional l responsibilities from her partisan ambitions we are facing serious challenges in the health care field that require decisions made in the best interest ofyork region citizens past performance indicates we can expect mediaseeking pronouncements designed to further dr jaczeks personal partisan ambi- tions york regions medical officer of health must be nonpartisan and should be an example of ethics and integrity in govern ment i urge you in the strongest possible terms to put the interests of york region ahead of dr jaczeks ambitions her leave of absence should continue until such time as the provincial election is con cluded fcredtuenell chairperson simcoeyork district health council when are high costs a problem at a toronto smog summit in june 2001 federal environment minister david anderson pledged to add four chemicals nitrogen and sulfur oxides volatile organic compounds and ammonia to ottawas fist of toxic emissions this was supposed to allow mr anderson to force cuts on the five coalburning hydro plants in ontario the pledge by mr anderson has never been implemented experts say it would take 25 to 5 billion to convert the five plants to natural gas and an estimated 1 billion yearly for each plant in added fuel costs if the five plants are con- butdidnt chretien promise to end child poverty heu setaroump to it right after he kills most tears up free trade cleans up ratronase makes government accountable m verted to gas property owners will surely pay moreto heat their homes due to the extra demand for natural gas after the conversion 77 per cent of sulfur dioxide a compound of smog and 81 per cent of carbon dioxide that drives global warming along with 77 per cent of mercury will still arrive ifrom other sources in fact up to 50 per cent of ontarios smog comes from the coalfired plants in the heav ily industrialized ohio valley canada went oh to sigh the kyoto accord the united states did not was the high cost the reason the peterson liberals and ndp government of bob rae failed to convert the plants cost did not appear to be a problem when these govern ments ran up a 112 billion deficit costing tax payers 17000 each day to service jshaw markham big pipe solution to everything the big pipe has been on its way from markham to vvtiitchurchstouffville for as long as i can remember i remember my early days in town we would get overflows from time to time usual ly during a big storm the rainwater from the roofs of some houses was added to the over burdened pipes removing stouffville left overs this on occasion found its way into duffins creek the only solution was to stop develop ment until the big pipe arrives a great hurriongus pipe that will take all the leftovers stouffville could throw at the processing plant inthe park and then some build more houses more people and pipe the leftovers put of town better that than duffins creek i have decided to announce my plan for the hamlet of bloomington i have no reason to consult the towns silvertongued planners we all know bloomington is uphill from stouffville york region tax money would be used to improve the ditches down ninth line creating a water course between blooming ton and stouffville this watercourse would facilitate move ment of bloomington leftovers to a catch basin at northern boundary of stouffville proper i believe this plan would hurry up ah extension of the big pipe to bloomington next a developer would honour ah age- old agreement and pipe fresh water to all the residents before building any houses everybody would be smiling and happy east side marktfs jini bits and bobs fish and chips fresh fish daily from the lake would fight to be located in the hamlet i think i wrenched my tongue on this one since i had it so far in my cheek v bob lewis bloomington david suzuki worlds children need our help we in north america naturally fear for the welfare of our children like other parents around the world we are concerned about their safety about disease and injury but unlike other regions almost all of our chudren vyill survive past the age of five every year more than 10 hiillion chil dren under that age die most die from preventable illnesses and remarkably the situation is getting worse not better medical experts writing in a current series of reports for the medical journal the lancet describe the health of the worlds children as abysmal worldwide mortality for children had been falling by 25 per cent per year from 1960 to 1990 but in the years since that has been reduced by more than half the disparity between rich and poor nations is growing in 1990 industrial ized nations had a childhood under the age of fiverdeath rate of less than 1 per cent compared to 18 per cent in sub- saharan africa immediate causes of death vary from region to region overall 33 per cent aire due to neonatal postbirth problems such as infection 22 per cent are from diarrheai21 per cent are from pneumo nia 9 per cent from malaria 3 per cent from aids and 1 per cent from measles in spite of promises by the united nations to reduce child deaths 60 per cent by 2015 funding for child health programs has actually dropped to its low est levels since 1995 attempts to reduce death rates cannot use a simple blanket approach if they are to be effective they need to be based on sound science and good data both of which require money i when north americans are reaching record levels of obesity it is absurd more than half of all childhood deaths are spurred by hunger it is equally absurd that in todays globalized world where you can buy a coke practically anywhere children are still denied basic medical care dr david suzuki is a scientist broadcaster author and chairperson of the david suzuki foundation letters policy the stouflviile tribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the tribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space letters to the editor the tribune 9 heritage rd marwialrion 13p1m3 email etten9ecbnsuncom editorial editor jim mason riewsrodmeconsuncom advertising retail sales manager steve kane skane0ymgcom sales manager new business development distribution daiima andrews dandrews0ymgcom classified manager ann campbell aatmpbcuymgcom real estate manager mikerogerson mrogersonymgcom production director of production john fu they jfutheyymgcom distribution distribution manager barry black bblackymgcom administration office manager vivian oneil vonellymgcom york region events managing director debraweller dwellerymgcom shows manager stacey allen sallcnymgcom york region printing general manager bob dean bdeanymgcom editorial 9052942200 fax 2941538 advertising 2942200 classified i-800- 7433353 fax 8534626 distribution 9052948244 canadian ontario press circulations audit council board member suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper die stouflviile tribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the ybrkregkm newspaper group includes the liberal saving richmond hill and thomhiavaushan cstfimmaimiamerxnomrstsun stoufrvaielribune stoufrvoe sun georgia s aovocatevbrk regwn business times at home gcrfufeyorkre0oacorn and yorle preprinting h iv