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saturday jan- 3 2004 serving the community of whitchurchstouffville 20 pages1 including gst b diversions stars of the bars play for love of music not money opinion 6 real estate 9 sports 16 classified 18 hospital takes over uxbridge facility natural alliance for health care centres by martin derbyshire staff writer markham stouffville hospital officially takes the reigns of the former lakeridge health uxbridge monday completing the hospitals transfer almost four years after realignment plans were announced markham stouffville takes the keys from the oshawabased lakeridge health after coming to an agreement in march 2003 and finally signing the deal last month once the agreement was made transfer of what will now be known as uxbridge cottage hospital a site of markham stouffville hospital took almost a year but markham stouffville vicepresident lome zori says that is normal smooth process throughout this process there really hasnt been any stumbling blocks he said our goal was no disruption to staff or patient care and its been a smooth process however lengthy amalgama tion talks that started in 2000 stalled a year later when the markham stouffvilles board reportedly balked at the 18 mil lion technology price tag that came with realignment mr zon says since then new and cheaper technology has see hospitals page 15 oak ridges mpp awaits eves resignation klees set to seek leadershi by joan ransberry staff writer premier frank klees has a cer tain ring to it the oak ridges mpp is one step away from seeking the progressive conservative leadership later this month mr klees 52 is expected to officially announce his plan to seek the leadership of the provincial tory party as soon as party leader ernie eves steps down mr klees said he will launch a provincewide leader ship campaign within the conservative party ernie eves made it very clear mr klees said he is stepping down the evesled conservatives were soundly defeated by the liberals in early september he mr eves agreed to stay on to ensure a proper transition we expect his announcement to retire to come sometime in january mr klees said party officials are targeting june or september for a leadership vote mr klees prefers the fall september would give me more time to prepare he said its a very large province the provincial tories have just shy of 100000 registered members each member can vote for the new leader meanwhile leadership can didates including mr klees are expected to sign up new members in readiness for the vote mr klees precampaign work has started he has advised mr eves and his caucus colleagues of his see klees page 12 iftitifsiii first in town for 2004 staff photobill roberts tanya and scott mckinley pose with baby andrew the first wwtdiurdistoufjfville baby born at markham stouffville hospital in 2004 at 7 pm jan 1 also pictured are the other mckinley children daniel 3 and paige 2 at their hoover park drive home for more see story on page 5 town and country really tm 6400888