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

6 stoujjviue suntribune thursday aug 2007 istouffville suntnbune 6290 main st stouflvilleonl4alg7 wwwyorkregioncom publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director interactive media technology john futhey director advertising york region printing distribution general manager barryblack bobdean director circulation systems lynn pashko editorial grants report truly embarrassing ifs all about the attitude sadly on some level we all expect government to be wasting at least some of our money on partisan spending this is canada after all weve grown used to it but the reaction of the provincial liberal government to an auditor gen erals report on more than 30 million in grants doled out to groups across ontario with little or no documentation to get the money really rankles for months the government refused to answer questions about the money later it finally agreed to have the audi tor general investigate the report last week painted a dis mal picture of government accountabil ity a pricket association that asked for 150000 received 1 million other groups that had formed only months before received hundreds of thousands they did not need and have yet to even spend it is sitting in bank accounts and gics others got money with no paperwork whatsoever the gov ernment should be truly embarassed the result one minister mike colle tendered his resignation from cabinet premier dalton mcguinty said he was sorry and that was that liberals were quick to point out the auditor claimed there was no evidence groups got money because of their lib eral ties but that is hardly the point the fund was effectively 32 million in seed money to spread the glories of capitall ontario style liberalism among predominantly new immigrant groups the message stick with us and well show you the money the idea was to turn them into lib eral converts and it is hard to conceive this tactic was not known by other min isters and even the premier who was featured in a photograph at a cricket assocation event where a 1 million cheque was handed over local mpp greg sorbara the finance minister says the auditors recommen dations on keeping tabs on how the grants are handed out will be imple mented his government will formalize a pro cess for new immigrant organizations to get grants i dont see this as an election issue he said the implication months ago from the premier himself was that anyone who opposed these grants was anti- immigrant the partys position does not appear to have changed it is all rather troubling theyve shown little respect for par liament or taxpayers theyve labelled their critics as racists theyve shrugged off the auditor generals report as an opportunity to entrench a questionable practice it is very much an election issue you cleaning its not sexism but flawed nasty politics are we still just women play ing at a mans game there has been a lot of talk lately about women and politics some of it prompted by the exodus of female politicians veteran ndp mpp shelley martel cites family reasons for tossing in the towel as do liberal mpps marie bountrogianni and jennifer mos- sop mary anne chambers points to health concerns while judy marsales is fed up with the long hours newmarketaurora mp belin da stroriach who has returned to an executive position at magna includes a desire to spend more time with her two teenagers as part of her decision not to run for reelection much handwringing and navel- gazing has brought renewed calls for changes to a system many see as biased former ndp politician marilyn churley jumped in last week to call for more janes running against the dicks she wants ontario to move to a system that would support a gender- balancedlegislature at the polls oct 10 well have our say on adopting a mixedmember proportional system said to better reflect the popular vote than our existing firstpastthepost system i see the merit in considering a change to a system that clearly hasnt given us political representatives women or men with a broad range of backgrounds experiences and perspectives but as a woman i detest the sug gestion the rules have to be changed to give us a fair shot at playing the game be it politics business or com munity leadership we need strong committed lead ers who are there for reasons beyond their gender i cringe over warm body pro nouncements such as those by lib eral leader stephane dion who promised last july to run women in 33 per cent of federal ridings the provinces three main par ties also vowed to increase female candidates but are we best served by leaders who have to be courted and debora kelly cajoled to take the job ms mossop refused to be a poster child for why politics dont work for women instead shes a symbol of todays couples juggling careers families and changing priorities plenty of men before her have stat ed family as the reason for quitting better hours daycare and flexible parental benefits would benefit all politicians im not suggesting sexism doesnt exist or that it isnt at times challeng ing for women politicians but is it any less challenging for minorities the disabled and newcomers is it any more different for women politi cians than it is in other professions traditionally dominated by males ms stronach has often comment ed on the medias obsession with her appearance and personal life a study examining media coverage during her bid for the conservative leadership found her appearance was mentioned in 33 per cent of articles including such bon mots as hot babe and dishy blond compared to 1 per cent for stephen harper and 3 per cent for tony clement the study concluded she was sexualized her business experience trivialized her political ambitions disparaged yet the neophyte came in a solid second to political veterans mr harper and mr clement since then prime minister harp er has not been immune to com ments ridicule actually about his appearance ill just say flak jacket here its not rig it but its politics not sexism eleven mpps elected with dalton mcguinty are quitting four are women ms stronach was the 16th liberal under mr dions leader ship not to seek reelection could it be some candidates have issues with leadership or see an election loss it was also politics not sexism regarding the comment posted on liberal adviser warren kinsellas website that tory mpp lisa macleod would rather be baking cookies than campaigning the tories cried sexism saying comments like this prevent women from entering politics it was more nasty insulting poli ticking from mr kinsella though this time he apologized i am not defending him but i am dismayed that a womans gender has again so easily become fodder for a political game negative advertising and ruthless verbal attacks have taken politics to a new low that would have any sane woman or man thinking twice about entering the fray its time for change to the political system all right but change that will benefit all letters policy thcsuntyibune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribunercscrvcs the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clar ity and space letters to the editor the suntribune 6290 main st stouffville on l4aig7 jmasonyrmgcom editorial editor jim mason jmasonyrmgcom interactive media marketing advertising manager dawna andrews dandrewsynngcom advertising retail manager staceyallen sallenyrmgcom classified manager ann campbell acampbellyrmgcom assistant classified manager bonnie rondeau brondeauyrmgcom production team leader sherryday sdayyrmgcom ontario pita council lipe fdsfltj aa cab editorial 9056402612 fax9056408778 advertising 9056402612 classified 18007433353 fax9056408778 distribution 9056402612 suntnbune a york region media group community newspaper the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is a division of the metroland media group ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 100 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thomhill vaughan citizen the erabanner newmarketaurora markham economist sun georgina advocate york region business times north of the city yorkregioncom and york region printing