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Serving the Mapleton Community
Community News Volume 44 Issue 18
Drayton, Ontario
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Friday, May 6, 2011
Schellenberger garners 55% of votes to win Perth-Wellington riding by Mike Robinson STRATFORD - As the political map of Canada became a bit more blue with the election of a majority government on Monday night, Conservative candidate Gary Schellenberger celebrated both his fifth consecutive election win and the 45th anniversary of his marriage to his wife Judy. The results in the PerthWellington riding echoed the feelings across Canada, including a Conservative win and a second place finish by the NDP, followed by the Liberals. Unofficial tallies had Schellenberger at 25,281, representing nearly 55% of the votes. In a distance second and third place were NDP candidate Ellen Pappenburg at 9,879 votes (21.3%) and Liberal Bob McTavish at 8,341 votes (17.9%). Green candidate John Cowling garnered 2,102 votes (4.5%), while Irma DeVries, of the Christian Heritage Party, received 806 votes (1.7%). Schellenberger considered it a very positive local campaign. “I’ve been really pleased with the way it went,” he said on Monday night. “It was a clean campaign, and it’s surprising how quickly it goes by.” As to specific issues on the campaign trail, Schellenberger said the big thing is people are worried about the economy and keeping their jobs. “It’s pretty hard to pay the bills if you don’t have a job. And without a good economy, you don’t have jobs,” he said. Schellenberger added that was why they were working hard towards getting a majority government - to keep the economy going in the right direction. He said the concerns in Perth and Wellington counties
were very similar. “Often it is an underlying thing; you get health questions, agriculture - and agriculture and health are both parts of the economy.” He said Canada needs to have a strong economy in order to pay for social services. Personally, he said it was a great feeling to be elected for the fifth consecutive time. As the night progressed, Schellenberger was pleased with the way things were shaping up. “I was told earlier that there might be some pretty close
“The fifth time is every bit as exciting as the first.” - Perth-Wellington MP Gary Schellenberger, on his convincing victory on Monday night. races ... what I’m seeing is pretty good. Right here for me, I really wanted to get 50% plus one. It looks like I’m going to achieve that. Schellenberger stressed, “The fifth time is every bit as exciting as the first.” He admitted to being more comfortable than during his first election in 2003, but part of it is having the support of people in the riding who he said are telling him, “Gary, I think you’ve done a good job. We’d like to send you back again. That’s reassuring and it makes you feel good.” Watching the results, he told supporters “this is wonderful. It’s coming out just the way it felt like.” Schellenberger’s campaign
manager Jeff Marshall commented it had been a great 38 days and “we worked hard and we got the greatest MP in Canada re-elected.” As the local victory was declared, Schellenberger first said how honoured he was to be re-elected as a Member of Parliament for PerthWellington. “Next week on May 12, I will celebrate the anniversary of my first election as a member of Parliament ... Have we ever been out of election mode - no. “Tonight I am just as humbled as I was in 2003.” He was glad to once again have the confidence of the community to once again serve as their representative in Ottawa. “I am very proud of the campaign we ran in PerthWellington and across the country.” He maintained that in the past five years, the government has delivered focussed results in local communities. “We delivered on projects in all corners of this riding,” he said. Schellenberger agreed there were still a lot more votes to be counted that night, “but I am confident that when all is said and done, we will have a stable Conservative government that will continue to get results for Canadians.” He also offered congratulations to the other four candidates. To them, he said “well done. It’s never easy to put your name on the ballot.” Schellenberger said there were so many people involved throughout the campaign. “To all who helped out, thank you. I couldn’t have done it without you. “Finally, there is one person who I cannot forget, and that is of course my wife of 45 years. Continued on page 5
Thumbs up - Gary Schellenberger and his wife, Judy, celebrate the Perth-Wellington MP’s fifth win on Monday night. The incumbent Conservative received 55% of the votes in the riding. photo by Mike Robinson
Paul Day named volunteer of the year by David Meyer GUELPH - Paul Day was a founding member of the Wellington County Stewardship Council and spent many years promoting the conservation and enhancement of land and environmental resources throughout the county. In introducing Day as Mapleton Township’s volunteer of the year, Mayor Bruce Whale joked at county council that his and Day’s ancestors cut down too many trees when they cleared the land, and Day has been working hard to replant many of them. Day chaired the Peel history book committee that
wrote about the history of Peel Township. It was so successful, the extra money from it was used to start planting trees. After amalgamation, that program expanded to the Trees for Mapleton program. Day works with local farmers to plant windbreaks, living snow fences, buffers, shelterbelts and corridor planting. Now called Trees for Mapleton, the efforts of those involved led to the creation of the community forestry initiative, which in turn evolved into the Wellington County Green Legacy program. That program has received provincial, federal and U.N. recognition.
Day also participates in his community as an active member of the Mapleton Historical Society. He credited all the people he has worked with over the years. “I had a great group of people to work with,” he said. “That is where the power comes from. Working with groups.” He added having worked in a bureaucracy and in other sectors, he likes the volunteer sector. “That’s where you can get things done,” Day said, adding he salutes the county for stepping up with its Green Legacy program. See photo on page 2.
OPP: Township remains safe despite spike in domestics, break and enters by Chris Daponte MAPLETON TWP. Though a relatively safe place to live, there was a significant rise last year in the number of domestic disturbances and break and enters in Mapleton. OPP Inspector Scott Smith told council last week police responded to 20 domestic calls last year, up from the threeyear average of 13. Of the domestic calls in 2010, over half (11) took place in old Peel township, while six occurred in Drayton and just three in former Maryborough Township. Over the last four years, the number of domestic distur-
bances in Mapleton has risen 300%, from just five in 2007 to 20 last year. But despite the increase, those incidents represent just 6% of the total domestic calls across Wellington County, which is good considering Mapleton’s population is about 11% of the county total (according to the 2006 census). In fact, all OPP call types in Mapleton last year were well under 11% of the county total, except for break and enters, of which there were 45 or 14% of the total. Most of the break and enters last year occurred in the rural areas of Peel (22) and
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Maryborough (20), while just three took place in Drayton. Smith estimated 90 to 95% of those crimes occur at residences, as opposed to businesses. And most, he told council, target farm sheds or barns, which are seldom locked and contain attractive items like chainsaws, ATVs or other small machinery. All other reported crimes in Mapleton remained relatively unchanged in 2010, except for impaired driving incidents, which were down to just four. The three-year average in the township for those calls is 10. Overall, police responded
to a total of 1,285 calls in Mapleton last year, representing about 6% of the county total - the lowest of any municipality in the county. Over the last three years, the total call volume for Mapleton has increased by less than 3%. Yet residents can always do more to remain vigilant and help prevent crime, Smith said, including locking doors at home and in their cars, developing a road watch program like the one established in Puslinch and even programs to educate the public on topics such as domestic violence. Smith explained there are no definitive “causes” of crime,
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but risk factors include poverty, mental health problems, unemployment, poor education and bad parenting. He added he continues to lobby for more community involvement by the police. “We need to have that engagement,” he said, noting he wants to get officers out of their cars more and into schools or drop-in centres. Youths may make mistakes and can occasionally forget their surroundings, but for the most part they are good kids, Smith said. “We have to get past this mentality that kids are intimidating or bad,” he stressed.
BILL’S
While statistics show 16- to 25-year-olds have the highest rate of crime, Smith refutes the traditional explanation from some experts who attribute the trend to the late development of the part of the brain that processes the consequences of their actions. He points out only 2% of the youths in Wellington County are committing crime and the other 98% are fine - so that can not be the case. A more probable explanation for some youth crimes, he said, is often there are no longer any consequences at home for their actions.
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