Please somebody explain to me why the historical society would sell our most cherished historical figure's homestead to the highest bidder?
I don't think there are very many people living that have not heard of Sir Frederick Banting, the discoverer of insulin for diabetes.
There are few uses of the money received by historical society that I would support. Possibly an indoor rec centre with pools, saunas, whirl pool, nutritionists, and education on how to prevent diabetes, specifically designed for people who have lost limbs, etc. because of diabetes named in honour of Sir Frederick Banting. Land and the cost of facilities no doubt would soon eat up this money. Possibly even a new museum in his memory, or as was mentioned in another letter in the Herald, a national or provincial park like Earl Rowe.
J.E. Heslip - Alliston
Queen's Park Report - MPP Simcoe-Gre
Ontario is suffering from a massive capital deficit as the amount of work that needs to be done to repair or replace the buildings, roads and bridges that government built a long time ago is tremendous.
The work is necessary if we are to accommodate growth and enhance our quality of life here in Simcoe-Grey and yet, the McGuinty Liberals have let us down once again.
Last week, the Ontario Liberals sent letters to New Tecumseth, Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, Clearview, Springwater, the County of Simcoe and the Town of The Blue Mountains refusing to provide provincial funding for local projects under the Canada-Ontario Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (COMRIF).
But don't be shocked, this isn't anything new. Dalton McGuinty's Liberals have been saying no to our local councillors since they came to office in October 2003.
Improvements to the regional waste water treatment plant in New Tecumseth will be put off again for another year and so too will the extension of water and sewer services to Clarksburg along with improvements to the water systems in Collingwood and Wasaga Beach and the construction of a fire storage reservoir in Springwater.
These are projects that have been planned and needed for years. In fact, most of those plans have been rejected by the Liberals for the past three years even though the emphasis for the COMRIF program is supposed to be on water and sewer services.
And while Clearview had plans for the reconstruction of the 10th Concession shot down by McGuinty, the good people in Adjala-Tosorontio and Grey County can sleep a little easier knowing that the provincial treasury will at least kick in a little bit of money to help build a new bridge in each area.
A large part of the problem lies with the fact that our provincial government has no consolidated plan to begin to seriously address this deficit. Put simply, the Liberal's COMRIF program is inadequate. It is essentially a lottery with very expensive tickets. At the current rate of capital investment, Ontario's rate of infrastructure decline will only get worse. As John Tory says, you could call it "inadequacy, phased in over four years."
We need stable, co-operative, flexible programs and we must re-examine how municipalities are financed and the lack of authority our local governments have to act in a large number of areas without begging or pleading with the province.
Municipalities deserve reasonable latitude and must be held accountable. And let it be clear, after nearly four years in office, Dalton McGuinty has done nothing to address this serious issue.
His government's record in Simcoe-Grey is simply no record at all.
