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WATERLOO CHRONICLE The Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by The Fairway Group, a division of Southern Ontario Community Newspapers Inc., a division of Southam Publications, a CanWest Company. The views of our columists are their own and do not necessarily represent those‘of the newspaper. Ken Bosveld Deborah Crandall Associate Publisher . Editor, Ext. 215 Dwayne Weidendorf . Gerry Mattice Group Sales Retail Sales Director Manager, Ext. 230 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J 1P2 Publisher: Cal Bosveld B86â€"2830 Fax: B86â€"9385 Eâ€"mail: wchronicle@sentex.net Andrea Bailey Bob Vrbanac Reporter, Ext. 227 Sports Editor, Ext. 229 The Waterloo Chronicle welcomes letters to the Editor. They should be signed with name, address and phone number and will be verified for accuracy. No unsigned letters will be published . Submissions may be edited for length, so please be brief Copyright in letters and other mateâ€" tials submitted to the Publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author, but the publisher and its licensees may freely repmâ€" duce them in print, electronic of other forms Our mailing address is 75 King St S., Suite 201. Waterloo N2J 1P2, our eâ€"mail address is wehronicle@sentex.net, and ous fax number is 886â€"9383 f Manager, Ext. 225 JP 4 uk *‘ 14 %, International Standard Serial Number Audited <h circulation: 26,056 mecsmure Carolyn Anstey Sales, Ext. 223 Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number 136379 Norma Cyca Letters Policy Lynn Bartol ISSN 0832â€"3410 Cal Bosveld Sales, 623â€"6617 Joanne Dicaire Karen Dwyer Each year, we and our children take turns holding the Christmas feast. This year it was the turn of our son Jon who hosted 14 of us. The meal was excellent, and what a superb day for us... a late morning in bed, off to church, no meal to prepare, and round to my son‘s to eat and be merty. No mess to clean up afterwards, and a late homecoming to a clean, tidy house, and so to bed. But after dinner, while my sons and I were having a chat over a whisky, they brought up the subject of my monthly column in the Chronicle. They wanted to know where the fire had gone. They said my columns were interesting, but it was all "motherhoodâ€"andâ€"apple pie." They said I‘m nice to everyone. Imagine that. There‘s nothing wrong with being nice, but my sons wanted to know why I‘m no longer writing about the follies of municipal government and revealing the inside dope. I thought about this for a moment and then tried to explain that once one is NC | o. longer a member of the city m ie or regional council, as I am | | GUESI | not, it is very hard to know COLUMNIST exactly what is going on. * * "AHA!: they said. "Just the hiz _ point! You should make an | 3# * n effort to find out what‘s hapâ€" . [R & < | pening and spill the beans." They had a point, of e course, and I told them so. 1 . | | also said that presenting | facts is fine, but at times people don‘t always want to | | know. 1 have learned from | | experience that sometimes people who read my colâ€" umn think ! just have an axe "========â€"â€"« to grind, or I‘m merely trying to score points. So that‘s why I don‘t write a word about how costs have gone up at the region. I don‘t mention that we are paying much more for garbage collection and transit than when those services were run by the cities, with little or no inefficiency of service. 1 don‘t write about how the ambulance service, which cost $4.4 million when it was run by the province, now cost close to $6 million. Our mayor tells us in the Chronicle (Jan. 16), "There were so many years we (city) came in with a zeroâ€"perâ€" cent increase and even a minus, but eventually you have to catch up." Oh! looking back over the past eight years, the record of taxes shows an average increase of about 1.9 per cent a year, Not zero! Taking in growth, etc., this adds up to an average spending increase for each year of about five to six per cent a year. So what‘s to catch up? hristmas has come and gone for another year, ‘ and all the leftovers have been served up in 20 different ways. Turkey is still turkey no matter how you serve it. 1 don‘t want to upset anybody, so I don‘t ask how much of a pay increase regional staff has received over the past two years. I don‘t think anybody needs to know why the region had to employ two people, at a cost of $137,000, to decide how to spend a housing grant of $930,000. People have enough to worry about without ponâ€" dering why two thirds of the money the region received to help the working poor has gone to hiring extra staff instead of assisting the needy. We should, I suppose, all be celebrating the fact that Waterloo is trying to keep the tax increase to about 3.5 per cent, even though the rate of inflation is nearer two per cent. The city also says the water rate must be increased. Why? What happened to the money in the water reserve? And with all the talk about the lack of affordable housing, the lack of emergency shelter, and the increased demands being put on food banks, how can local governments â€" all local governments â€" even think of raising water and hydro rates? By raising the costs of utilities, you only hurt those you profess to help. Does anyone care? That‘s the kind of stuff I would write about if I wantâ€" ed to stop being so damn nice. â€" But no, I told my sons, I‘m not going to write about those types of facts or the nagging questions behind them. That would only upset people, and I would be Let‘s keep it light in the new year | Ob | COLUMNIST | I )‘"‘“""}’ , | w Continued on page 9 VIEWPOINT For a lot of folks that means they may never have to pay, that the old Grim Reaper will render the extra bill when the time comes. Anyhow, when you think about it, the mayor‘s promise doesn‘t make much sense â€" it‘s like a coffin with a lifetime guarantee. I‘ve got him pegged for opening a "pot grow" in Cambridge. A fairly big one. â€" Final Account: The Walkerton inquiry is complete, and the results are what any fairâ€" minded man might expect. The report found As a matter of fact, she says, if the city has to pay, the increased payments won‘t become apparent until the parties are a good way through the 31â€"year agreement. On the Hunt: Wow! in Afghanistan, the wily Osama bin Laden has escaped about 250,000 CIA men, about 15,000 FBI agents and sundry other U.S. mercenaries. Add to that the ruthless terrorâ€" ist is carrying a bounty big enough to almost pay what Waterloo is being sued for in the RIM Park fiasco. The best specuâ€" lation _ is _ that he‘s â€" quit Afghanistan by sea. However, with all his family, microphoneâ€" caddies, hangersâ€"on and cave companions, it‘d make quite a flotilla. Alas, if anyone had enough sense to assign a Canadian frigate to the area it‘d have all bin Laden‘s crew in irons without a shot being fired. Another opporâ€" tunity missed! I‘ve been helPing Waterl00 enz regional police keep a eye on this area for an invasion by bin Laden. I figure that as a former bigâ€"league contractor, he‘d go for something in his own field. So the police should eye all big Cambridge homes that have been rented in the past month. Particularly they should move in on one in which the lessee lounges around the yard in a bathrobe. & Whoopee! The regional police would be in line for the $25 million or so reward. And, of course, they‘d donate it to Waterloo to defray a bit of the expense of the RIM lawsuiit. year. The Grim Reaper will render the extra bill aterloo Mayor Lynne Woolstencroft has told taxpayers not to fret about a RIM Park tax increase for the next CHRO® SANDY BAIRD .... AND NOW BACK TO MORE OF THE EXCITING ~ _ "EDGE OF YOUR SEAT TORY LEADERSHIP DEPATE.... And you have to wonder at what stage Paul Martin says to heck with the new leaderâ€" ship and retires to tend roses. And in due course, Manley will get fed up with waiting and will take over as University of Toronto president. Then and only then will Sheila Copps toss her chapeau in the ring. She figures to get the votes of a heck of a lot of seniors. zww _ Shining Cabinet: Brian Tobin suddenly resigns and, what do you know, Jean Chretien has a new and improved cabinet on his hands. He‘s named John Manley to deputy prime minisâ€" ter, promoted a highlyâ€"recommended backâ€" bench MP, and dealt off a handful of duds. That should set him up for the next year or so and thus we forget about a new leader until then. The report also condemns the Tories for cuts to the environment ministry and their unseemly haste in privatizing labs. All of which blinded the government to any risks proposed by the budgetâ€"cutting. Shiny Cabinet: Jean Chretien seems to have put together an impressive cabinet, but no member strikes you like Bill Graham, the backbencher who was catapulted into John Manley‘s job. enough blame to go round, and the Koebel brothers, Stan and Frank, get a key spot. It dempnstrated that the water controls are by no means a simple matter. That everyâ€" thing compounds any action that might be taken. Ah well, every good crisis gets us back on track. No one ever prays to OHIP. Graham, who‘s been leader of the Commons foreign affairs committee, scoffed at remarks by Alliance leaders and Tory leader Joe Clark that he wasn‘t up to the job. More power to him. He sounds like a good appointee to me. Anybody who barks at cheap seats is someone worth watchâ€" ing. Anybody who scoffs at the Alliance has the right idea. Yes sir, if Stockwell Day is right the next 10 million times, he‘ll have to keep going at that pace to make amends for his past leaderâ€" ship.