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suhiffyilksutttribune athursdaysept 20-2007- lf mum of suntnbune 6290 main st stouffville on l4a1g7 wwwyortoegioncom publisher aw proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director interactive media technology ofti futhey director advertising york region printing distribution general manager barry black bob dean director circulation systems lynn pashko editorial we dont know abcsofmmps it is ironic a scheme to get us involved in provincial elections will be put to a vote in less than three weeks with so few of us knowing what were voting on what we will be asked to vote on is a mixed member proportional sys tem of government in ontario under the system drawn up by a citizens assembly mpps would still be elected in each riding however mpps would also be appointed from lists of candidates based on voters party preferences when you get into the voting booth you would be asked to vote twice once for the party of your choice and once for the candidate to represent you in your riding parties would win the right to appoint mpps from their list of can didates based on their percentage of party votes cast the breakdown would be 90 local ly elected members and 39 list mem bers 129 mpps in total thats up from the 107 mpps we have now why make this change advocates say the results would better reflect how people actually voted smaller parties that receive 3 or 4 per cent of the popular vote but dont garner enough votes in any one riding to win a seat would now have a voice in the legislature by winning the right to appoint a handful of members a party that won 40 per cent of the vote might end up with less of an ironclad majority because list mpps would be appointed to even things out there is also the suggestion women and minorities who have not had success in the major parties could find themselves in the legisla ture by virtue of an appointment as a list member while these arguments may sound good one might also argue the sys tem we have now has served us pretty well since the 1800s a majority government whether it got 50 per cent of the popular vote or 40 per cent is required to set the direction and get things done and not be hamstrung by a handful of appointed mpps if this is one of the first times you are hearing about this you are prob ably not alone the move has not been well pro moted by government advertising or by our current mpps an inukshuk are you going for ike markham fair straw bail competition prize no my cows are of at wheuerj07 letters to the editor mcguinty hypocritical when it comes to funding religious schools re keep public funds in public schools editorial sept 12 i was dismayed to see such an editorial from our local newspaper john tory is promising to right a wrong this is 2 1st century canada to publicly fund religious schools of one denomination to the exclusion of all other is abso lutely wrong and cuscriminatory the argument that this is the way it is writ ten into constitution is pure demagogy this can be easily addressed by a bilateral constitutional amendment as was done in newfoundland not so long ago we had a lot of backward and discriminatory laws and traditions in canada including not allow ing women to vote jand having religious quotas on university admissions we overcame them in due course ontario must fund all religious schools which adhere to the provincial curriculum or none anything else is a pure and severe form of reli gious discrimination which you and the hypocrite dalton mcguinty whose own children attend a publicly funded religious school seem to be advo cating maxrositan whitchurchstouffville residents walmart back red cross oh behalf of the canadian red cross region of york branch i would like to thank the citizens of stouffville for supporting the recent fundraising campaign with the local walmart supercentre thanks to the generosity of its customers wal- mart raised 1618 in support of our local disaster management program these funds will enable our team of volunteers to respond to emergencies ranging from house fires to flooding and severe weather and provide for the basic needs of those affected including shel ter food and clothing we will also be able to recruit and train addi tional volunteers to ensure we remain ready to respond quickly when residents of stouffville need help and we can continue educating the public about personal preparedness walmart canada is matching the funds donat ed by their customers making the campaign an even greater success we raised more than 17000 in york region across canada the campaign raised more than 1 4 million with more than 425000 of that amount being donated by generous ontarians i would also like to thank the staff at walmart 1029 for their efforts during the campaign and their support of the work of the red cross jerry chwang president region of york branch council canadian red cross society f 45ss hi hjr w jjfcrjftgjki 1 f 7 l m wmmf icsjs r is off the top with jim mason drawn together foradayanda lifetime of memories wim devries and terri ness live a world apart dont know each other and yet share an alltoocommon bond they were at the stouffville track sun day with hundreds of others warming up for the 26th annual terry fox run mr devries flew in friday from hol land for the run he was one of 28 fam ily members in the tshirts with dutch and canadian flags on their sleeves and team amanda on the chest namesake amanda devries a single mother died three years ago next week end from cancer her sister ann wild- berger and family live in stouffville the rest of the team ventures in from across ontario and europe for the day amanda meant that much to them stouffville also means a ton to them thanks to the warm memories of pre vious terry fox days when terry ran through peterborough on his cross country trek in 1980 amanda and ann went to see him pass by the wildberger home on lovely obrien avenue was a shrine to all things terry sunday that wasnt the laundry drying on the trees out front but shirts from previous runs marking the big day terri ness formerly a stouffville auc tioneer now lives near port perry at the 2006 run her husband gord ness videotaped participants and cheered people on including terri gord a main street lawyer died before this years run terri quietly put a challenge pledge 5000 for the run and she would get her hair cut ultra short during fridays new corporate cut it worked friends came up with 6000 and terri arrived in stouffville sunday showing off her sheered locks and a photo of her gord on her chest there were many other gords and amandas sunday their names were written in marker on the memory board next to the track their memories were carried in heavy hearts around the 5 and 10 km routes through north stouffville sunday after noon gone but hardly forgotten jim mason is editor of the sun- tribune letters policy the suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity 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 dauma andrews dandrewsyrmgcom advertising retail manager staceyallen sallcnyrmgcom classified manager ann campbell acampbellyrmgcom assistant classified manager bonnie rondeau brondeauyrmgcom production team leader sherry day sdayyrmgcom fdsa caudal ctautkxij cca editorial 9056402612 fax9056408778 advertising 9056402612 citified 18007433353 fiuc 9056408778 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 thomhillvaughan citizen the erabanner newmarketaurora markham economist sun georgina advocate york region business times north of the city yorkregioncom and york region printing