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6 stouffville suntribune thursday may 27 2004 opinion publisher ian pr0udf00t telephone 9056402612 fax 9056408778 email jmasonyrngcom website wwwyorkregioncom editorial time to remind politicians who runs country its tempting given the current state of politics in ontario some longtime voters may be thinking of skipping this election and at first glance who can blame them will their vote really make a differ ence andif the party they vote for wins will it actually live up to the promises that lured that vote after the disastrous ontario election whether it was the liberals breaking promises or the tories lying about the books doesnt really matter many con stituents are weary of politics period chief electoral officer jeanpierre kingsley has predicted a low turnout suggesting the june 28 vote may be the most poorly intended in history its disturbing more voters than ever may give up their democratic right despite a government battling one of the biggest scandals in decades or maybe its because of it cynicism after all is at an alltime high the mcguinty governments pile of broken promises and the chretien governments sponsorship scandal can take much of the blame for that giving up on politicians would be easy and some voters may think theyre sending a message by not voting in this illtimed federal election which falls on the last day of school as canadians pre pare for cottages and camping trips but this is the time to vote this is the time to take democracy seriously this is the time to stare politicians in the eye and say you must do better so too must voters its no longer appropriate to vote tra ditionally picking the party your parents voted for or choosing a candidate based on political stripes those stripes are changing all the time right has moved left left has moved right and more than ever political promis es are made to be broken ifs time to pay attention voters are the only ones who can bring good government to do so they must demand details from their candidates dont write them off challenge them force them to prove why their platforms will work and how this is no time to give up on democ racy its time to remind our politicians who really runs the country suntrjbwc letters to the editor whitchurchstouffvilles no camelot culture as defined in websters dictionary states refinement of intellectual and artistic taste refined and intellectual were not the words i would have chosen to describe the towns arts and culture committee and its cheering section during the may 18 council meeting loud and boisterous were words that came to my mind as i listened a member of the committee and a group of speakers wanted councils assurance the old town hall will be transformed into a building addressing the needs of wwtchurchstouffvilles artistic community the only king in this soap opera attempt of classical works was councillor clyde smith councillor smith questioned the committee member with the articulation and intelligence of a modernday king arthur in his attempts to identify the committees objectives the committee member failed to submit drawings or information of the proposed theatre structure for councils review in the absence of information councillor smith recommended a task force be set up to research and document all necessary data that could prove beneficial in outlining a theatre structure although a delegation is permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes various proponents ram bled on for about an hour nearing the end of the hour mayor sue sherban revealed she had documentation three feet in height on this issue the stouffville suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and addressthe stouffville suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 34 qvic ave po box 1 54 stouffville l4a 7z5 email jmasonymgcom mayor sherban said she refrained from sub mitting the documents to council members in order to avoid influencing them council mem bers appeared surprised by this in support of councillor smith councillor rob hargrave also made a valiant effort to deci pher the direction of the delegation with all the qualities of a sir lancelot where would our knighthood be without its merlin perhaps in a manner like king arthurs chief adviser councillor harry bowes had com pleted some of the delegations homework he had brought research conducted after vis iting 26 towns and had documented similar chal lenges council members could not appease the rowdy group whose behaviour could have resembled saxons attacking the knights of the round table i salute our members of council i believe they demonstrated restraint courtesy and respect for the positions for which they were elected councillor smith and king arthur would probably agree that whitchurchstouffville aint no camelot dorothy giuffre stouffville sffitribune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stouffville ontario l4a 7z5 phone 905-640-2612- fax9056408778 classified 18007433353 distribution 9052948244 website wwwyorkregioncom email jmasonymgcom memberontario community newspapers association canadian community newspapers association ontario press council editor in chief debora kelly editor jim mason reporters joan ransberryhannelorevolpe retail sales manager steve kane sales representative susan berry production manager pam nichols office manager vivian oneil business manager robert lazurko advertising director retail sales flyers nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gordpaolucti managing director real estate mikerogerson director of production johnfuthey distribution manager barry black sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews general manager york region printing bob dean director marketing promotions debraweller shows manager stacey allen classified manager ann campbell off the top with jim mason revisiting our old friend the ballot box as if we needed any more practice marking ballots in a ninemonth span ending june 28 we wwtchurchstouffvillians will have voted or at least had the opportunity in every government election possible add union strike votes baseball all- star picks and canadian idol choices and were selectionready were set but are we happy not bloody likely as the liberals are about to find out if you thought you just voted in a national election youre not far off friend fortythree months wilf have passed between elections well short of the fouryear norm and the fiveyear maximum at the federal level why so soon mr martin to give you a mandate after all you were only picked to lead the country by the party faithful not the nation fair enough or is to strike while the iron is hot while the polls still show the liberals on top who remembers the political end of david peterson the provincial liberals had the majority of support in the polls when they called an early election in 1990 the call appeared hasty and so seemed the campaign including a peterson whistle stop of a barbecue on the front of lawn of parkview village but voters thought mr peterson was being greedy and tossed him out in favour of the new democrats it took 13 years for the liberals to get back into office courtesy of dalton mcguintys promisepacked campaign of last fall will mr martin fall like david peterson yes if ornery voters inter viewed on television and in print are rep resenting their neighborhoods he wont if voters like the liberal record and mr martins new vision for the country its your call here in this neck of ontario we have more reason to be confused if not angry well vote in a new riding markham- oak ridges in what seems like a regu lar occurrence blame it on the warp speed growth that continues to rock york regions look ifs almost like a blast from the past with the new ridings borders stretching from the edge of uxbridge into king township resembling the constituency sinclair stevens served in the 1980s meet you outside the ballot box again jim mason is editor of the sun- tribune