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F I 'i '-7 ,White eyes provincalseat By Mike Kowaild Durham Centre 'New Demo- crate have a candidate for next month's provincial election. Whitby reeident Drummond White was acclained last Thurs- day as the NDP candidate ini Durham Centre riding for the Sep t. 6 election. 1 social worker and com- munity activist, White ie making hie fret attempt at public office. Hie acclamation means that al three major p artie now have candidates in Durham Centre. Laiberal incumbent Allan Pur- long and -Progressive Conserva- Itive candidate Jim Flaherty-were nominated prior te lest week's election oeil by- Premier David Peterson. .Nino Maltese of the Family Coalition Party was aiso nomma- ted earlier., 1Married, -a father of three chil- dren, White is president of the Durham 'Region branch of the Ontario Association of Profes- sional Social Workers. And White began hie remarks with an attack on the Peterson governmnn'sfai lure te imnprove life' for thè lees foýtunate i Ontario. ý He teld about 30 suppotr that many families no longer. have the financial resources te adequately care for their chil-. dren. "Ini the communities of Osh- awa and Whitby, we have almoet 5,000 children who are living on welfare handouts fer below the poverty lime » eaid White. "In Ontario, one of the moet prosperous regions in the world, we have the second highest level of child poverty in the industrial world.» White accueed the government Of ignoring the bottom five per DBTA. By Mike Kowelsld Despite occasional criticism from some of ite members, the Downtewn Business Ixnprove- ment Area works well for Whitby, say supportèe. Formed in1978 through a bylaw passed by Town council, today's DBIA boasts a member- ship of 425. This number consiets of approximately 39 per cent ser- vice-oriented businesses such as cent of Ontario's population when deeigning its economic poli- cies. He said the government chooses te do eo at its peril. "Social spending is not a luxury, it is a necessary social investment in our comimon future. «Already in Durham Region, we have had a 58.2 per cent increase in the number of wel- fare recipients over last year.» White said the capacity of municipal services te cope with this increase has reached the bxreakingpoint. "We cannot continue te bear this cost on ou r property taxes." White said Peterson chose te caîl an election now rather than deal with the growing welfare problem and,,Onterio's declining economie health. "They know the signe of slow- down, the 'slippage of the lest qu *te. hey Pknow that they -ill do nothing and they hoa te ride itt with a ýýmfor;le WhiteYein hie supporters that during the 1987 éection, Peterson vowed te, protect Ontario from' the affecte of Canada's free frade deal with the United States. "With free tirade, 50 000 well- paying industrx.jal jobs'a ve been lot sadWhite, only te be replce by 5Ã"000 service jobs "at or juet above minimum . said New Democrats have long advocated programs that would retrain laid- -off employees for new jobs in a moden, technol yal wokplaoe. «WithimpeTle'timing, Pre- mier Peterson has just announ- SER PAGE 2 ONTARIO Progressive Conservative ris are Durham Centre PC candidate leader Mike Barrs (left) was iAjax-. Jim Flaherty (right)and Ajax Mayor last week to discuss the welfare budget Jim Witty (behind). problem -in Durham ]Region. With Bar- Off. Bovi. photo Tory leaderbamspoic for Durliia welfare àhoi'fl By Mike Kowalsld Under a Progressive Conserva- tive government, Ontario munici- paities will no longer be asked topay ani increasing ehare of wefare cos, promises party lea- der Mike Harris. Further, a Conservative administration would end the p ractice of provincial govermnent fuding responsibilities being fassed on te local taxpayers, saïd The Tory leader made these prmsslast Priday during a roical election campaign step Durig a pes conference in the offfice o Ajax Mayor Jim Witty, Harris blamed the Làiberal governument of Premier David Petersonfor the financial pro- blems many Ontario municipali- ties are facîg. Harris' offered his commente after hearing from Witty, chair- man of Durhamn Region council's finance committee, that Durham will have, difficulty meeting its share of welfare coes this year. Durham is expeted te come up $600,000 short in welfare payments due te huge increases In cases. befn up downtow banke and insurance companies; 35 per cent retail outlets and 26 per cent professional, which would include lawyers' and doc- torsd Offices. Centered at the four corners, the intersection of Dundas St. and Brock St., the DBIA7s geo- *graphic area jute and lags through the downtewn as far north as- Walnut St., east te Hickory St., south to Ontario St. and west te High St. The DBIA Ïs operated by a board of management appointed by Town counicil and consisting of merchants and business people based in the downtewn. Funding for the DBIA je collec- ted by the Town from a special Ievy on downtewn businesses, based on such factors as square footage, parking area and general tex asseesment. The averege levy paid by DBIA members increesed- 70 rcn te fund this year's 158,716 budget. lhe day-te-day operations of the DBIA'are- administered by manager- Lynda Lawson. The DBIAs mandate, accord- ing te Làawson, is essentially thriee-fold., It involves creating advertising and promotional canipaigns te, attract shoppers downtown; beautification programs te in- prove the physical appearance of building sud surroundings , and offering assistance te landiords in flinding tenants for empty stores or offices. Lawson acknowledgesthr May be grumblingsfro sm members that the DBAis bereft of new ideas and»that the people who control its operations rarely change. But she deflecte the- criticism back te the critics. "Sure there are those who help out consistently, we encourage, that, but we alays want more people te, participate,» said Law- son. "Everyone's opinion je of value. I can't say rm an expert, nor is the board. We always need feed- back.» Lawson also disputes charges that Town council seems te ignore the downtewn and concen- trates its attention on other veas ofWVhitby. SEE PAGE 3 Home, and G arde n Fe at ure 1 nside Witty told Harris that Dur- ham's portion of the $40-million welfare bill will be $9 million and in order tomeet its obliga- tions muet use money intended for other purposes. (Among monies bemga taken from other progi-ams ije%300O0 SEE PAGE 15 Experts on exports. See page 12 COR. enters provincial election See page 16 ~4t* *t 6~$ t 7 t t t*t ~tt $ *$ t t O :4 ,1~~ '»