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WATERLOO CHRONICLE Carolyn Anstey Circulation Manager Eâ€"mail Iynin Barto Regional Classified Manager 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J IP2 The Waterloo Chranicle welcomes letters to the Editor They should be signed with name, address and phone num ber and will be verified for accu racy. No unsigned letters will be published. Submissions may be edited for length, so please be brief. Copyright in letters and other materials submitted to the Publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author, but the publisher and its licensees may freely reproduce them in print, electronic or other forms Our mailing address is 75 King St. S., Suite 201, Waterloo N2J IP2, our eâ€"mail address is wchronicle@sentex net, and our fax number is 886â€"9383 The Waterloo Chromcle is published esery Wednesday by The hiurway Group a division of Southern Ontario Cormmutity Newspapers Inc., a division of Southatn Pubhcations, a CanWest Company. Uhe views of our coluttusts are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper Incermational Standard Serial Number Letters Policy Andrea Baie Reporter in« Canadian Pubbeations Mail Sales Peoduct Agreement Number L474 Norma Cyca Advertising Publisher: Cal Bosveld B86â€"2830 | Fax: HB6â€"93H3 nail: wchronicle@sentex. net im Alexander Director of Advertising al Busveld Publisher Audited circulation. 26.05¢ > smm § LSSN C $2â€"34 10 Doborah Urandal) Editor Laune Ridgway Classified H« Aimy Hachburn Circulation Gerry Mathic Bob Vrhanac Sports Editor Retail Sales Manager Hill Karges Advertising Walerlnu Region‘s Health and Social Services committee is, | am sure, committed to helpâ€" ing people who are less fortunate. But why do their solutions always seem to involve more programs, more caseworkers, and more money for agencies? Here‘s an idea worth exploring: Why don‘t we just put more money into people‘s hands? Take the probâ€" lem of housing. Everybody knows affordable housing is in extremely short supply in Waterloo Region. So how do we help poor people find a decent place to live? Should we subsidize rents? Should the region build its own lowâ€"cost housing? Think of the bureauâ€" cratic nightmare we‘d face with all those buildings to maintain and manage! And where would they be built? Instead of striking task forces to help with the lack of affordable housing, why not do something bold and cost effective? Why not give people more money for rent? Maybe an extra $100 a month would allow some families to move to something bigger and better, and developers might view the shifting economics as an opportunity to build more rental units. It would also make sure that lowâ€"cost housing wouldn‘t be clustered in cityâ€"owned "ghettos". iW cicaacacccacaaiactaun I hear you asking: How e s do we know extra money (IUI‘SI given directly to people “ wouldn‘t be squandered on COLUMNIST beer and lottery tickets? The answer is we don‘ know. But what we do A§ know is that the major . smm M problem with being poor is _ |f "| 4 h ‘ {surprise!) _ not â€" having | ‘ kh 3 enough money. wtee > If you‘re poor, programs M W and caseworkers won‘t put \ ‘ food in the fridge, buy the MIKE { kids clothes. or pay the t rent. That‘s what money CONNOLLY | does. If you have a little ‘ more money, maybe you won‘t have an empty fridge for two or three days at the end of the month. Maybe you can buy your child a new pair of jeans, or a toy when it‘s not a birthday. Fundamentally, to become less poor you need more cash The program would not have put more money into poor people‘s hands, although Saskatchewan and Quebec opted not to claw back the money from famiâ€" hes on welfare. Those people ended up better off. But in Ontario, the government decided welfare recipients did not need more money and instructed local municâ€" ipaliues to claw back the equivalent amount of money from welfare and put it into a reâ€"investment fund to help lowâ€"income families, especially the working poor. The money Waterloo Region had to reâ€"invest for the betterment of the local poor â€" our neighbours â€" totaled $1,045.000 this year. As in previous years, the region plans to spend only about one third on cash and direct grants to poor people, and the remaining two thirds on programs, more welfare caseworkers, and some grants to local agencies. I want to make one more thing perfectly clear. Our social services department is staffed by good people who genuinely want to help those in need. Unfortunately, however, bureaucracy tends to think in bureaucratic terms â€" new programs, more employees, support of other agencies â€" rather than simple direct aid to people. It is time to reappraise this thinking before we spend millions on lowâ€"cost housâ€" ing or other programs that don‘t go to the root cause of poverty, which is the lack of money. Simple soluâ€" tions to a problem are always the best way to go. Some people still don‘t get that. In midâ€"1998, for example. the federal government introduced the National Child Benefit, a kind of baby bonus for lowâ€" income families. Ottawa didn‘t impose conditions on the provinces to take part in the program, which, in effect, would have shifted some of the burden of welâ€" fare from the provinces to Ottawa. That means this year the region will spend only $250,000 on cash and direct grants; the bureaucrats will spend almost $800,000 on things that do not put cash into people‘s pockets. One million dollars would have given 1,000 families $1,000 each. Those families could have paid some bills, bought some new clothes, used the money to help pay for a move to a better apartment. The money would have helped. Instead there are more programs and caseworkers. Programs are fine, but money‘s better GUEST COLUMNIST ‘ +.3 l \3‘: ‘ | g, ,, ‘. 5 2 | B 2 Pame A W VIEWPOINT Kids are alike in many disrespects Stork market: You can‘t say Waterloo parents are superâ€"proâ€" lific, but the stats show that, from a percentage standpoint, Waterloo grew the most of any regional municipality in 2000. Fact is, Waterloo has at the most only a handful of births every year. Back a few decades when 1 wrote a longish piece on the community 1 stressed that point (along incidentally menâ€" toned that Waterloo doesn‘t have a hospital). Culture Vulture: Diane Lemieux, Quebec‘s new culture minister, has charged that, compared to Quebec, Ontario has no culture to speak of. Oh no? Just let her come to Kâ€"W and get a load of our bowling alleys, bingo halls, ntario Grade 10 students fared poorly Oin a basic literacy test last year, and the fingerâ€"pointing has begun. Natch, the teachers union is blaming Queen‘s Park, and the education ministry has vowed to analyze the results. Twentyâ€"nine per cent of 170,000 students failed either one or both of the reading and writing segments of the test. They showed test samples on TV and it looked like a breeze. You‘d think any average Grade 6 could pass it. In any case, parents will want to know â€" and deserve to know â€" what‘s going wrong with the muchâ€"touted educational reform. It strikes me a lot of the Grade 10 types need more discipline. Kids were a lot better off when the only teenyboppers were parents. Now a lot Qf the kids are alike in ONC | so many disrespects. | By the end of 2000, Waterloos _ _ population has risen by 3,220 to 98,700 for an increase of 3.3 per cent. Kitchener grew by only 1.2 per cent adding 2,370 to make its population 190,100. Cambridge, as well as its mayor Doug Craig, is booming. The gem of South Waterloo increased by 2,200 to 110,900, a growth of two per cent. Anyhow, when you add up all the paper and string, Waterloo Region is home to 451,220 souls, an increase of 1.9 per cent. Say, I suppose you know that June brings good kiteâ€"flying weather in the region. Every time Kitchener suggests something, that‘s what Waterloo and Cambridge tell Kitchener to do. SANDY BAIRD Erin Go Blah: 1 esteem the Irish as I do only one other race, and as a St. Patrick‘s Day tribute I‘d like to run again an old Irish prayer. I think it‘s the funniest Irish humor I‘ve read or heard. Like so: May those who love us, love us And those that don‘t love us, May God turn their hearts; And if He doesn‘t turn their hearts May he turn their ankles So we‘ll know them By their limping. Arm of the Law: Thieves are still making house calls in Kitchener, but, in addition, the city now features guys getting shot, stabbed and mugged to a fareâ€"theeâ€"well. 1 even hear tell one Kitchener bank branch is keeping its money in a Waterloo bank. poolhalls and, of course, taprooms. She should wash her mouth out with soap. Rapid Transit: Gerry Thomson, the region‘s chief administrative officer, the other day made a plea that should be unnecâ€" essary, but, alas at least in the short term, will probably be futile. Gerry said the eight municipalities should have a single planning policy so the region could make reasonable solutions on such policies as landâ€"use and transit. But, at the moment, because the municiâ€" palities are forced to compete for assessâ€" ment, development is permitted in areas where it shouldn‘t be. {Ufi 1 think there‘s a bit of snobâ€" bery in the regional holdouts. 1 hear that last Christmas in some of the ritzier sections of Waterloo they disâ€" tributed baskets to people with only one swimming pool. The simple answer, of course. is a single municipality where all decisions are made by a single entity and competitions between municipalities don‘t exist and * the barriers to efficient planning AUDNE | are moved But it won‘t happen as long as Waterloo and Cambridge are in the hands of holdouts. How much more will we permit urban spraw! to exact its price in quality of life? How further will we have to go because our tranâ€" sit is badly laid out. In summary, how â€" many opportunities will be lost and how much damage will be done by the pointless rivalries?