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Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016
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SOCIAL ISSUES
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Vets ‘served country’ and deserve homes, legion says United Way to conduct homeless count this month
J STAFF PHOTO/MIKE BARRETT
Dave Gordon is executive director of the Royal Canadian Legion Ontario Command who says the number of local veterans who are homeless is a huge but hidden problem across York Region. The United Way will conduct a count of the homeless in the region this month and will ask if these impoverished citizens have served their country.
BY LISA QUEEN
lqueen@yrmg.com
ust before Christmas, a 39-year-old homeless veteran living on the streets of York Region, and struggling with post traumatic stress disorder after serving three tours of duty in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan, committed suicide. The death of the soldier who served his country for 20 years is a tragic indication of the considerable, but often hidden problem of homeless veterans, Dave Gordon, executive director of the Aurorabased Royal Canadian Legion Ontario Provincial Command, said. “They served our country, they served for our country. They wrote a blank cheque to our country and said we’ll serve our country. Our country expects folks to come forward. They did. Men and women have come forward, many of whom have given their lives. The veterans have created the peace we have in
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For more information, visit on.legion.ca or call 905-841-9992 or 1-888-207-0939. Comments? Email tkibble@yrmg.com
Canada today,” he said. “A lot don’t come home. They have the Highway of Heroes. Their last trip in Canada was down the Highway of Heroes.” Canada should be ensuring veterans, many of whom are discharged for medical or mental health concerns, don’t live their lives on the streets or couch surfing with friends and family, assistant executive director Pam Sweeny, said. “The atrocities they have seen (while serving overseas) and then they come home and to think we’re not, as a country, equipping them with the ability to deal with what we put them through, so to speak, it’s the least we can do,” she said.
See page A8.
MUNICIPAL TAXES
You could pay about $52.69 more this year
DON’T SEE IT IN THE PAPER? CHECK OUT MORE STORIES ONLINE INCLUDING:
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❐ NEW BLOGGER: The 7 'Fs' to a fantastic life
❐ COP DEVASTATED: Veteran York officer files lawsuit against Peel detective, Peel police services board
Town set to approve $141-million budget Monday with 2.99% hike for homeowners
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BY CHRIS SIMON
csimon@yrmg.com
our town taxes could soon be on the rise. Newmarket council will likely approve its nearly $115 million draft operating budget and tentative $26.7-million capital plan during a meeting Monday night. The operating budget includes plans for a 2.99-per-cent increase on the town’s portion of the property tax bill — about $52.69 for the average home assessed at $450,072. The amount includes a .8 per cent infrastructure levy. When combined with the anticipated York Region and school board portions, the average homeowner will pay an additional $104.89 on their property tax bill this year. “There’s a lot of work that’s gone into this budget,” Councillor Joe Sponga said, during
DEVELOPMENT
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Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not? Email tkibble@yrmg.com
budget deliberations earlier this week. “We set a very ambitious target and we were able, somewhat, to meet it.” The capital budget includes funding allocations for projects such as the land acquisition, design and construction of the Central York Fire Services 4-5 station ($7.5 million), roads infrastructure projects (about $5.3 million), a Tom Taylor Trail underpass at Davis Drive (about $1.8 million), the implementation of the water and wastewater master servicing study ($1 million), replacement of all CYFS breathing apparatus ($900,000) and a new fire
See page A2.
ARTS & CULTURE
Pickering College arena deal nears
Playwright students showcase semester’s work
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Financial plans to be announced early next month
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GET CONNECTED
truck ($800,000). There was some consideration for removing about $300,000 in funding for renovations to Magna Centre, to convert the restaurant space into a fitness facility, from the capital budget. But since the project now appears to be moving forward, that money will likely be kept in. “We’re starting to turn the corner on a very important process,” Mayor Tony Van Bynen said. “It captures the balance we always try to seek — tax fairness and service level expectations.” Operating budgets pay for the ongoing expenses incurred by the municipality, such as wages, fuel, hydro and maintenance costs. Capital budgets usually cover large infrastruc-
BY CHRIS SIMON
csimon@yrmg.com
inancial plans for a municipally backed arena at Pickering College could be unveiled early next month. Newmarket staff will likely present a capital and operating cost framework related to the proposed new arena, during a committee of the whole meeting Feb. 1. The proposed arena would be built on school grounds and is expected to cost about $11.5million to construct, according to preliminary floor and site plans, town community services commissioner Ian McDougall said in a report presented to the committee earlier this week. However, a Pickering deal is just one piece of a larger puzzle that includes the potential sale of the Hollingsworth Arena to San Michael Homes Developments, which wants to purchase the site as part of a $130-million redevelop-
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For more stories on this issue, follow: bit.ly/1Ma4JF1 Comments? Email tkibble@yrmg.com
ment project near the Davis and Patterson Road intersection. If the project is completed as planned, the arena and two privately owned properties would be redeveloped. “I really believe this is a priority for the town and one we need to address with a little bit more fervour,” Councillor Christina Bisanz said. “There’s a lot of valuable property on Davis Drive that really isn’t providing the town itself a whole lot of value, in terms of contributing what it could to the tax base and a real need for alternative and more affordable kinds of housing. Hopefully, we’re going to be providing the kind of incentives to finally build business opportunities and See page A2.
Lose
BY CHRIS SIMON
csimon@yrmg.com
auren Aqui’s next performance is personal. The Grade 12 Sacred Heart Catholic High School student and more than a dozen of her peers have organized The Playwrights’ Festival, which takes place at the school’s theatre tonight and tomorrow night (Jan. 14 and 15). The festival is a culmination of a semester of work for Sacred Heart’s inaugural playwright class. Each student was tasked with writing their own play and the top two — Lisa Brankin’s Falling Bridges and James Pallotto’s Hallucination — were selected to be showcased.
GET TICKETS ❑
Tickets are $5 in advance, $7 at the door for both 7 p.m. for performances. Call 905-895-3340.
“It’s really collaborative and satisfying,” Aqui, who stars as ‘renowned’ psychiatrist Cleopatra Ventus in Hallucination, said during a rehearsal earlier this week. “This is us, not something we adapted. It’s a love to perform. We’re all drama students so being on stage is our biggest thing. Showing something to everyone is
See page A2.
STAFF PHOTO/MIKE BARRETT
Sacred Heart Catholic High School’s playwriting class will perform tonight and tomorrow at 7 p.m. Here, actor and playwright Lauren Aqui plays a therapist in one of the presentations.
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