Page Ç. Whitby Free Press, Wednesday, March 2,1994 The only Newspaper owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whltby residents! ONTARIO MMERO:CANADIAN COMMUNITY r, i A COMMUNITY NWSPAPER +CN NEWSPAPER ASOCIATION ASSOCIATION ~ CANADIAN CIRCULATIONS CNA DIVISION AUDIT BOARD ISSN#0844-398X 26,500 COPIES IDELIVERED WEEKLY Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontario Imc. Box 206, 131 Brook St. N, Whitby, Ontario Ll N 5S1 Phone: 668-6111 Toronto Line: 427i'1l834 Fax: 668-0594 Doug Anderson - Publisher Maurice Pither - Editor Alexandra Martin - Production Manager Printed on newsprint with minimumn 200/%~ recycled'content using vegetable based inks. Q Ail written material, illustrations and advertising contained herein is protected by copyright. Any reproduction by any means for commercial purposes without the express permission of the newspaper is prohibited and is a violation of Canadian copyrigh law. eroduction for non -commercial distribution should bear a credit lino ta the Whitby Free Press. To he itr~..mm Request unrealistic To the Edtor: Copy af ltter ta J. Sadier, r, Hw about mare cuts?,' Free ress, Fob. 16). Dowa r.Sadller, Unforfunatelv. the lot 1er vou sont ta me was included with your tax payment and was nat recouved by the Town unI il Feb. 17. Considoring tIfltyour mtter appeared in the Feb. 16 issue af th. Whitby Free Press, i can anly assume thaÉ you feR if more important for the press ta receivo a copy boior 1ld id. In your loUter, you congratulae me for thla year's 1.2 per cent tax reduction. i cm 1tell you that council and staff worked very hard in arder ta achievo thla 'hisforîc Seat.' You went on ta personaily challenge me to reduce staff salaries, wages and benoîits in 1995 by 10 per cent. In order for you ta understand how unrealisfic your request is, I think you should bu aware ai a few f acta. a) Over the past throe years, every department has had staff roductions and, Mhile we have buen able ta maintain a reasonable levol ai service ta t ho public, any further staff reduct ions would Seriously curfail service levels and adversely affect the infrastructure af aur municlpality -- this the public would nof support. b) Many af the staff have not had a pay increase since 1991 and, in addition, they have had their pay reduced due ta the social contrat. In order ta achieve your goal af anothor 10 peor cent reduction, many people would suifer unnecosar financial hardship. Remember, last year you had a zero per cent tax increase and this year a 12 per cent roduction. Also, your req ueat vwould require council ta break negotiated agreements which were made in good fith. This la something that 1 persanally would not agres ta. c) Over the past year, Ontario began taxing bunefifs and insurance premiums ai ail public employees. If you would like ta see taxpayers' money put ta butter use, thon 1I ould urge you to contact your MPP. In closing, thank y ou for your input. I. hope i have h ighlighted a f ew major aroas which makes your request unroalistic. Donnis G. Fox Eat ward councillor Change of character To the Editor: If 'th. Free Presa had not printed commenta on the proposod provincial legislatian, Bill 20, .'m .sure most roaders woùld likoly, know lith, about the impact this NUl cauld have on aur nghbourhoods. n repart iram Whitby's planning direct or came boefore the planning and development committe. on Feb. 21, and introduced a number oi serious concerns about the bill which one memnber ai council calWe a 'recipo for disaster..' Whtby has, in the past, worked hard ta estaIblish a community that encourages residents to, pride themnselves in f heir properties and aise tries toaoacommodate housing for Ras resldenta. Bill 120. in ifs present form, would, in effect, se. a change in Whitby's caracter that would bu a rotr roresin. The comments that i heard et the committo. meeting seemed ta show thalt he gommnrent is committed ta intonsffying the population in aur neighbourhods, no malter what the cosf, or liiostyles for which wo have worked so hard. I hope council will seek the changes that would reduce the consequences this bill could bring ta Whitby. Gsrry Emm Ashbumn soth edt.. Forget the praise To the EdItor: Re: Lot ter 'Praise for Bob' <Whitby Fr.. Press. Feb. 23) What a paghetuc letter irom Donald MR Warne. la ho subdRiuting for Drunimond White or warming up ta replace him? Firstly, Ra's dag did not walk on wator. The dog was walking an the floating bodies of the 6,500 plus Ontario Hydro workers recently lot go., Jobs Ontario ls rubbsh. The program is aprimarily ammed et visible minorities in short-termn, low-paying Jobs. Sounds ta me that this pragram needs a new titI.. How abot No Jobs Ontario or Snow Jobs Ontario? Oh yes, how could we forget the Fair Tax Commission? Ves indeed, fair to whom? Any household No affiliation To the Editor: This letter is written in arder ta address what has became. a needless cantroversy for the parish of Ail Saints'; if is intended ta clarify the relationship between Ail Saints' parish and the Ail Saints, Housing Corp Ail Saintse Housing Corp. was orginally established in 1987 by aur rector et the time, Canon Rod Barlow, and memburs af our parish, in ardor ta address a need I n the communify for supervised houslng for psychiatrlc out-patients. In fact, the original rosidonce was furnished by memburs ai aur parish. Ail Saints' parish has no officiai affiliation with Al Saints' Housing Carp. since th.elatters inception in 1987. However, aur parish endorses the programs pravidod IbY Ail Saints' Housing Corp. becauso f hey meet a reai need in the communlty. Ail Saints' Housing Corp. oPeraf os independently under the jurisdiction of a valunteer board af directors and continues ta bu a non-prof it arganization thet la primarily gavernm ent funded. Elizabeth Shumovich and JIm Flaherty Church wardons AlilSaInts' Anglican Church earning a combinod incarne ai $50,000 is now deemed ta bu rlch. Hmmm. A husband .and wife working at GM exceed that level. The workers at GM thanked Bob and the NDP accordingly. People in Ottawa are calling Bob Ras and his, NDPers lame ducks. The foderal goverment will not waste their time deallng with the. soan-to-bu-out-of-offlce NDP gavernrentirom Ontario. No. Mr. Warne, forget about giving the Ontario NDP gomerment a chance in 1994. The only achievement necessary for them in 1994 us calling an olection. Finally. if you are walting In the wings ta replace Drurnmond Whit e or whomever, i strong l suggest you g et a roahity check from Lynn Jacklln. Remembur her? The most meent NDP flag-bearer in the federal election got leas than 3 per cent ai the votes cast. No return, no deposit. Thank goodness Septembur 1995 is getting dloser and doser. Ted Grsenflald WhItby It's a stail By lex Shephord Dwrham rldlng MP Bringing the deficit down white spending money on job creation is what this government tried ta do with its f irst budget. I wanted ta cut more, but with 75 per cent af the federal government's money already spent, this gavernment did well for only bei np an t he j ob four mont hs. At this point the gavernment can't cut spending in programs such as UI, for example, because it requires public consultation. The government ls still on* target to reduced the, deficit ta three per cent of total goods andi services over tne next three years ram $45 billion ta $C9.7 billion. Leaving RRSPs and dental health benefits alan. is a reflection of your government's cammitment ta staying off the backs of the middle wage earners with small- and medium-sized businesses. Freezing federal government employee wages, saving more than $2 billion over two years,. is an attempt ta get the gavernment's payroll in arder. Federal civil servants are paid, on average, 13.9 per cent higher than their counterparts in the private sector. They shouldn't bu pId less, but how can they make more when taxpayrs are feelingtepnh C»sigmiiary bases, creating 17,000 unemployed, la sad, and my heart qoes out ta those who will bu unemployed at a time whe'n gettlng into the workforce la s0 difficult. Big if la a necessary move If govemoent ls to substantially reduce spending. The bdet reflocts the importance govemnment places on the raIe aosal business in creating jobs. Thar&s why thîs budget contains roductions in UI bunefits and premiums. The downside is that .bunefits for the .-Unemployed will bu reduced. But the bunoefts package for the unomployed in Canada is 20 par cent higher than in the Unftod States and other members othe G7. More changes will occur In the UI system as Canada takos a more pro-active stance in training to get people back ta work. Tho gaverniment decided to oliminaite the $100,000 capital gains tax. But those who had gains up to Feb. 21t 1994 can use the exemption without disposing ai their capital assets. There will bu a graduai erasion af the pensionors' tax credit for those with incarnes over $49,100. 1 don't think we'ro unfairly picking on this group. The govemment is simply asking that these people pay their share in harmony with other taxpayers. These are the highlights af the Liberal government's first budget. Everyone can pick out parts aofit they don't like, including myself. But 1 see this budget as a good start ta getting Canada back ta ecanomic reality without pralonging the recessian.