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

6 1 stoujjville suntribune thursday nov 24 2005 suntnhune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stouffville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director production interactive media john futhey advertising director distribution director marketingpartnerships retail flyer sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gord paolucci circulation barry black director circulation systems lynn pashko director debra weller york region printing general manager bob dean editorial immigration cash needed in york looming elections have a way of shaking cash out of government coffers and sometimes some of it trickles down to york region but because this booming municipal ity is often seen as overly affluent by the those who hold the purse strings at queens park and in ottawa the money that finally makes its way here is more like spare change than cold hard cash again and again york region is short changed by the federal and provincial governments when it comes to per capi ta funding for social services its almost tradition local politicians have complained no matter their political stripe with little success nonpartisan social groups have taken their case to the powers to be also with little impact a case in point is health care funding in 2002 york region health agencies authored a report called fair is fair it showed york agencies receive as little as 40 cents on the dollar compared to the provincial average one of those election goodies was 920 million for immigration services in ontario over the next five years its good news for the province because it gets ontario closer to the 4000 per new immigrant quebec receives under the plan ontario will see its rate rise from a miserly 8 1 9 per immi grant to 3400 by 2011 overall it should help ontarios new immigrants better adapt to their new homes but it may not be quite as glowing at york regions level under the current funding system york only receives 179 for each new immigrant that compares to 873 in toronto 558 in peel region 503 in durham region and 418 in halton region since the provincial average will increase york should receive more money under new funding but if the provinces penchant for underfunding york for everything from hospitals to social housing continues new immigrants will still not receive the same help as those in the rest of die gta that is not good news for york which continues to welcome thousands of new comers every year of the 38000 people who move to york each year more than 11700 are immigrants with another 13600 being newcomers from other countries who settle elsewhere first before moving to the region thats a lot of new residents who need help settling in queens park needs to fix the per-capi- ta funding formula to make sure yorks immigrants get the same assistance as any other newcomer landing in ontario letters to the editor animals residents forced out of town call it a waste of trees for the destruction of farmland i opened my mailbox the other day only to find it jampacked with junk mail probably several trees worth one flyer in particular made my stomach turn a huge postersized glossy flyer advertising a new subdivision in stouffville so what exactly am i supposed to do with it hang it on my wall to remind myself at every wak ing moment of the destruction of our precious farmland and greed of big developers its an absolute disgrace doesnt anyone see the downside of all this rapid development in our what used to be small farming community i read an article recently expressing concerns about being able to sustain all this development in the future if we cover our farmland with concrete and bricks where the heck is our food going to come from i grew up here and was hoping to stay however i certainly cant afford to buy a house here new or old with skyrocketing land taxes i am being forced out of my home town to make way for the mighty dollar what about all the wildlife being forced out of their homes the deer foxes mice birds the list goes on and on where are they supposed to go i certain ly dont need a glossy colour waste of trees poster clogging up my mailbox just to remind me perhaps stouffville should reconsider its slogan of country close to the city maybe the new slogan should be city that used to be country grainne ryan stouffville the stouffville suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the stouffville suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 34 civic ave po box 1 54 stouffvillel4a 7z5 email jmasonyrngcom smalltown business attitude still appreciated in community i want to express a special thankyou to a few businesses that have maintained a smalltown attitude for the more than 10 years my family has lived in stouffville boyds source for sports along with other local supporters has built and maintained an outdoor arena for our use cards tv and appliances has never said no when asked if we can use the property in front of their store for hockey fundraising tim mortons is a huge supporter of local hockey and of local fundraising and charitable events lastly schell lumber has always gone above and beyond serving my husband and our business these are some of the businesses that have affected us in a positive way on more than one occasion there are so many more great business es in this town i encourage everyone to take note of the ones that have been there for them and in return provide them with a committment as consumers i know my family will l newlands stouffville editorial production managing director new editorial editor manager business flyer sales 9055i37i7 suntribune jim mason jmasoiiyrngcom pain nichols pnicholsymgcom dawna andrews dandreivsyrngcom fax9055137525 advhrtising a york region newspaper group community newspaper administration advertising managing director 9055131717 classified the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is office manager vivian oneil classified manager ann campbell real estate mike rogerson 18007433353fax 9058531765 a member of the metroland printing publishing and oistnbuting ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community voncilyrngcom acampbcllyrngcom mrogersonyrngcom distribution publications across ontario the york region newspaper 9055131717 group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and events management retail manager thomhinvaughan citizen the economist sun markham shows manager staceyallen ciiutoi to jg cfcttlh3ei pws bpe the erabanner newmarketaurora stouffville suntnbune georgina advocate york region business times north of the bonnie rondeau sallcnymgcom tambom uethxt cog city yorkregioncom and york region printing brondetiuyrngcom off the top with jim mason turkeys cooking and whole town invited for dinner for a retired guy norm clements sure gets busy the former owner of the 20store national sports chain and lover of highend harness horses is hard guy to pin down for all the right reasons hes trying to retire laughs gary rouse manager of the stouffville country market mr clements was a noshow for an interview had another meeting and sent his apologies no sweat mr clements sold the venerable flea market property on the tenth line in february but holds an annu al lease on the land and still operates the market try and do a good deed for someone else today concludes his voice mail message and he walks the talk youll find him a few times a year in the slums of bolivia working with his missionary niece corina clements cooking for the street kids thats a far cry from his estate in the rolling hills of northern uxbridge hell host the 11th stouffville christmas day dinner at eastridge evangelical missionary church located next to the market the church sits on five acres valued at 1 million and donated by mr clements id thought about doing a dinner for a number of years he said in a phone interview it seemed like the right thing to do we all have so much ive been spoiled my family too this is giving back more than 400 people are expect ed again for the noonhour meal another 150 will be delivered live entertainment will be followed by a visit from santa and you think youre having a gang over on dec 25 theyll go through 50 turkeys and 15 hams at the community dinner its not just for the poor mr clements said its really a place to go if you have nowhere else to go for those new to stouffville or if your children have moved from the com munity and its all free although dona tions and volunteers are always wel come phone david knight 905-852- 3534 for more information jim mason is editor of the sun- tribune