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&# | WATERLOO CHRONICLE ; Andrea Bailey Bob Vrhanac | Editor, Ext. 215. Sports Editor, Ext. 229 in print in editorial@waterloochronicle.ca sports@waterloochronicle.ca sales@waterloochronicle.ca composing@waterloochronicle.ca siined with name address and ptiine namber and sall he eribed for acounics Necinsigned lefers wall be publishied Submussions mas br edired tor bengith. se please he hrief Copyrght in lefters and other materals sotmorted t the Publisher wned accopted for pubbcation remams with the anther but the pablisher and mm ensees mas freels reproduce them in print eles trome en ather forms O The Waterioo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by the Fairway Group, owned by CitvMedia Group Inc., a subsidiary of Torstar Corp. The content uf this paper is protected by copyright and may be used unly tor persunal nun commercial purposes Allother nights are reserved and commercial use is protubited. 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Associate Publisher hm Habich Composing â€"| _New formula .. is a step in the â€" right direction [t is also important to note that the new formula is not based solely on distances. Tt also provides boards with the Nexibality to address safety issues when the shortest walling route is deemed hay ardons and "local priorities" such as lower distances for kindergarten students But under the old formula, Catholic Grade 7 and 8 students in Waterloo Region walk only 1.6 km before they are bused. while their public school counterparts walk up to 3.5 km â€" more than twice the distance â€" before they are eligible for a ride Similarly. local public high school students must walk 4 8 km, while Catholic secondary students walk only 3.2 km Our petition of 2002 called for standardized walk ing distances across the province. Again, the effect of the new formula would be to place the onus on cotermmous boards. to adopt similar distance rules UOnce funding is made equitable, some boards will have extra dollars with which they could then lower distances, while ather boards which have been overly generous with their distance policies may have to consider meeting their coterminous board halfway Because at the end of the day, the effect of the new formula will be to encourage coterminous boards (such as the two Waterloo Region boards) to agree upon standardized walking distances within their jurisdiction. And that‘s a good and a fair thing. Simply put, how far our children are expected to walk to school should not depend on whether we are Catholic or Protestant. Why is it righf that 17 of Ontario‘s 30 Catholic boards will lose transportation money,. while only seven of the province‘s public boards take a hit? I am surprised, because traditional voting patâ€" terns have shown that Liberalism and Catholicism often go handâ€"inâ€"hand. I am thrilled because, despite the Liberalâ€"Catholic connection and the "biased" bent the media was bound to put on the new formula, Kennedy and crew appear ready to see the formula to fruition just because it is the right thing to do. In November 2002, Kim Forster and 1 presented then education minister Elizabeth Witmer with 1,000 signatures on a petition pleading with the province to fix the transportation model. In February 2003, we met with Liberal education critic Gerard Kennedy to make sure he understood the need for equitable transportation funding in case his party formed the next government. I am both surprised and thrilled the Liberals had the intestinal fortitude to carry on with the process begun by their Conservative predecessors â€" knowâ€" ing full well that a new formula would indeed appear, on the surface. to by biased against Catholic boards. When transportation funding was frozen in 1997, Ontario school boards were told to simply continue their existing transportation policies until a new funding model could be developed. Boards were all over the map on transportation, creating service inequities across the province, even though the Student Focused Funding Model is supâ€" posed to guarantee equal access to all elements of the education system â€" text books, teachers, and transportation included â€" for all Ontario students. At the risk of generalizing, Catholic school boards in Ontario have for years been more generous with their walking distance policies than their public counterparts â€" and as a result, have received more than their fair share of the transportation pie. t is unfortunate that Catholic school boards are Ialready whining about the money they stand to lose under the province‘s new funding formula for student transportation. Continued on page 1 1 VIEWPOINT Could politicians save NHL season? Something has to be done to make hock ev viahle. The plaver salaties have reached bevond the reasonable limit. And tieket prices. too. deserve their uts Closed for Repairs: Still, that‘s all the NHIT. hockey we get for now. The owners and the players have trundled out their wallets and resolved to sit on them until they get their just desserts So take in an observance for the fallen even if it‘s the first you‘ve ever attended I don‘t what it may do for you. but it would make us remaining vets feel good The prospect is, it seems, a =â€"â€"~~ series of race wars. Iraqâ€"style struggles and bloodâ€"letting of every description. It‘s not war, at least not by our wipeâ€"outâ€"the â€"land scape standards of measurements Or maybe it was that simply year upon year the world was awaiting the first missile to be fired in the impossible Third World War. Well, quite a bit has hapâ€" pened since then. Thank heavâ€" ens. There now seems less prospect of a world conflagraâ€" tion. Or mavbe it should be said there‘s no prospect of that Now with the ranks of veterans thinned out and thinning with every passing day. oddly there‘s more interest in paying a tribâ€" ute. That goes for all ranks of society. from the levels of govâ€" ernment to the folks in the street. Hardly anybody seemed concerned by the bloody wars in decades past. That figures, but it makes you wonder where all the people were in the decades between the wars. Most of us remember the Nov. 11 turnouts then as mighty thin. A Thinner March: Not too many weeks from now they‘ll be forming up to salute Canada‘s war dead. With each passing vear. the march grows thinner. Some businessmen are saying this could be the greatest Christmas ever. How do you like that? I always thought the first one was. Just a couple weeks now, Santa Claus will be appearing from every nook, cranny and orifice, and from then on Christmas will be just a wink away. o now we face the long cold, journey to SChrislmas. no real holidays included. Still, and mark this well, the days and weeks will fly by. J WATTRLOO CHRONICLE tmz â€" C C ZEL ALLESS ! G A | | LeaP | ay [ CR .. & NEXT P1 al ow im s e sc _ 2 09 PWE WE GASâ€"TAX REVENUE ACCESS ERC T AM ues bas n t2n 1P IRUGURE SANDY BAIRD But somehow he must have cut off on been cut off in his oratory or else they would be still at the discussions. Maybe on page 30 DT se Of course, [ just take academic interest in the topic because I‘m in perfect health In fact. theres only one thing harder than my muscles my arteries Fepmmmmane. They can be a brutal force as the scars on Jean Chretien show They actually didn‘t take that long at reaching a decision. There were a tew days of allâ€"purpose gibbleâ€"gabble. but when they got down to business it was settled in a day Say, 1 didn‘t hear much of Premier McGuinty: harlier in the discussions. it sounded as if he was good for a solid day ol vammering and hammering. To Your Health! It took them days to do it, but PM Paul Martin and his first ministers managed to come up with an agreement covering health costs. For openers they could agree there are no games on New Year‘s Day. The post office closes Jan. 1 and not a letter or package moves. The clerks practise all year for that. After a year or so of nonâ€"battling, peace would become the norm. And they could back to wrangling about their fourâ€"game suspensions and stuff. Yes, they could live the good life. The owners, too, could sit in their boxes, puffing on $10 cigars and sipping on their $30â€"aâ€"sip champagne. For too long NHL hockey has priced itself out of the reach of the average fan. The owners want a salary cap and, much as you hate to sympathize with them, it makes sense. The players at the top of the cap would still make more than enough to live the fulsome life. All the pros would. Granted. the science of health can be a bit complicated. but if you can get a nearâ€"dozen folks agreeing on its mechanics and its financing you have a miracle in the making. Gosh, you have to give Paul Martin high marks in this his first struggle with the first minâ€" ISteTs: Gee, if we can get them to agree on that, there‘s probably nothing they can‘t agree on. Maybe they could take on the hockey lockout if they‘re lookâ€" ing for things they want to setâ€" tle.