SERVING THE MAPLETON COMMUNITY
THE
COMMUNITY NEWS VOLUME 51 ISSUE 21
DRAYTON, ONTARIO
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Council agrees to fund splash pad servicing By Patrick Raftis MAPLETON – Construction of a new splash pad at ABC Park in Drayton is expected to get underway soon, after township council agreed to provide about $31,000 needed to complete the project. Mapleton council held a special meeting with members of the Mapleton Splash Pad Committee on May 15 to discuss project finances and the committee’s request for funds to assist with hooking up the pad to utilities. Splash pad committee members Erica Klaassen and Lorrie Spaling asked council to assist with the costs of running water and electrical services from the road to the splash pad during a project update on March 27. At the time, public works director Sam Mattina said the committee and township staff were getting prices for the work, which Mattina estimated at between $15,000 and $20,000. Council directed
staff to investigate the cost of the work and report back. On May 8 Mattina reported two quotations were received for the project, with the lowest coming in at $31,060 and the higher quote at $36,255. Council deferred a recommendation to accept the quotation and then set a special meeting for May 15 to meet with the committee At the meeting, committee members explained they had just over $255,000 available for the project, from a combination of committee funds ($77,201), contributions from the local Rotary ($13,512) and Kinette ($2,908) clubs, a contribution from the 2016 International Plowing Match RV and entertainment committees ($2,000 total), township 50/50 contributions ($9,400) and a $150,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Current project estimates supplied by the committee indicate about $233,000 in anticipated expenses, plus an additional $10,000 in costs for
path paving, landscaping and contingencies, plus $10,000 for electrical hook up and permit costs, in addition to the $31,000 for water servicing. Mayor Neil Driscoll projected the total cost of the project will be about $286,000. “And you have $255 (thousand),â€? he said. “If everything stopped today you’d have a shortfall of $31,600, which is the same as the water hookup.â€? Councillor Lori Woodham pointed out council initially agreed to pay only for operating costs of the facility. “What I recall is when this was first presented to us ... fundraising would be done by all of the committees and that ‌ we, Mapleton Township, would be in charge then going forward for the operation costs,â€? she said. “You would do all of the capital. So that’s where I’m not sure if this, the hookup, is operating or capital?â€? Driscoll asked committee
Budding artist - Students at Alma Public School held an art elective day on May 16. Each student chose a style of art and created a piece of artwork to be sold at Family Fun Night on June 7. Proceeds from the sale of the art will benefit Groves Memorial Community Hospital in Fergus. Allie Oelschlagel completes a bird painting during the elective day. Additional photos on page 2. Photo by Caroline Sealey
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Candidates debate topics from deficits to day care By Patrick Raftis ALMA – Four of the eight candidates vying to represent Perth-Wellington in the provincial legislature following the June 7 election answered questions on topics ranging from deficits to day care at a meeting at the Alma Community Centre on May 17. On hand for the meeting, organized by the Optimist Club of Alma, were: Conservative MPP Randy Pettapiece, Liberal candidate Brendan Knight, NDP candidate Michael O’Brien and Libertarian Scott Marshall. Not present were Green Party candidate Lisa Olsen, Paul McKendrick of the Consensus Ontario party, Rob Smeenk of the Freedom Party of Ontario and Andrew Stanton of the Alliance party. In brief opening statements, Pettapiece stressed his record as an incumbent MPP, representing PerthWellington residents since 2011. “I’ve worked hard to represent their interests and values. I’ve spoken up for rural and small town Ontario, I’ve initiated debates on the rural urban divide and the need to protect municipalities from higher insurance rates and
Pick a number - Participants in the Perth-Wellington candidates meeting at the community centre in Alma on May 17 picked numbers to determine speaking order. From left: NDP candidate Michael O’Brien, Conservative MPP Randy Pettapiece, Libertarian Scott Marshall, Liberal Brendan Knight and moderator Jim deBock. Photo by Patrick Raftis the need for fair and equal consideration on infrastructure funding and the need to save our long-term care beds,� he said. Knight stated, “I’m running in this election for the educational system for my kids to have and health care that my family can rely on.� He told the crowd that over the past four years the Liberal government has cre-
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ated 400,000 new jobs and “a million since the last recession.� Citing investments by the governing Liberals in all-day Kindergarten, child care, mental health, hospitals and education, Knight stated, “These investments and growth in our community are in jeopardy with Ford, a future Ford government. So far, we have yet to see a costed plan from Mr. Ford
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and bumper sticker slogans are not the same as a costed platform.� O’Brien said an NDP government would halt closures of rural schools, repair “crumbling buildings� change the school’s funding formula and facilitate an increase in the number of educational assistants and teachers in schools. Ensuring children with mental health
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issues “are treated in a timely fashion,� more funding for hospitals and reducing hydro rates would also be a priority, he said. Marshall said he travelled across Ontario in the course of duties as his party’s campaign director. “I heard loud and clear what the problems are here, not that it’s a big surprise to anybody: waiting lines for health care, the energy costs.� Marshall indicated he believes health care dollars are poorly spent by the current government. “I think they budgeted $56 billion this year and of that over 50 per cent, and this is not an exaggeration, 50 per cent goes into bureaucracy and administration.� Health care One question from the audience of about 50 people asked specifically where money will come from for more frontline health care, “given the kind of bureaucracy were dealing with.� McKnight said the Liberal government has promised the hiring of 3,500 “frontline workers – nurses.� He also said, “We’ve made significant investments in hiring doctors and nurses since 2003 and so we will continue to make the needed investments
in our hospitals, whether it be infrastructure or frontline workers or services for mental health.â€? Marshall insisted, “all the moneyâ€? is being spent on the health care bureaucracy. “We don’t need more money for health care, we just need the money for health care going to patient services ‌ going to the frontline, going to doctors, nurses,â€? Marshall stated. “There are so many levels of highly-paid bureaucrats in the health care industry it is mind boggling.â€? O’Brien was optimistic, if not specific, stating only, “It is a problem and I’m hopeful the NDP, when they come into power, will deal with it.â€? Pettapiece said he has spoken to nurses who tell him they spend two or three hours a shift doing paperwork when they could be working with patients. “It seems to me that the bureaucracy in Toronto, that for every new job they want, all they need is a piece of paper for it and that costs money so we need to get some of the red tape out of the system,â€? he said. Pettapiece added the PC party is also looking at changes to Local SEE CANDIDATES Âť 8
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