the
Serving the Mapleton Community
Community News Volume 47 Issue 19
Drayton, Ontario
1 Year GIC - 2.09% 3 Year GIC - 2.26% 5 Year GIC - 2.80% Daily Interest 1.55%
638-3328
Friday, May 9, 2014
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Sewer backup in downtown Drayton sparks concern from business owners
Labyrinth at last - Kim Uyede-Kai, left, a representative from the United Church of Canada, Mapleton Mayor Bruce Whale, labyrinth committee chair Chris Grose, and committee members Linda Scott and Deb Noble cut the ribbon to officially open the Alma Labyrinth and Memory Arboretum May 3 in Wallace Cumming Park. photo by Meagan Leonard
Labyrinth and memory arboretum unveiled in Wallace Cumming Park by Meagan Leonard ALMA - Residents of Alma celebrated World Labyrinth Day on May 3 by “walking as one at 1.” In conjunction with the global event, Alma unveiled its newly completed labyrinth constructed from concrete stones, along with a memory arboretum, both
located behind the community hall in Wallace Cumming park. The idea began in 2009 after Chris Grose, chair of the Alma labyrinth planning committee, saw one of the spiritual patterns in Paris. Since then Grose has been working to bring the symbol of world peace to her
small community. The United Church of Canada, which partly funded the project, said having an accessible labyrinth in the community is a step “toward daring discipleship.” They said the “creation of the 54 Chartres-style labyrinth, surrounded by a native Continued on page 2
by Patrick Raftis DRAYTON - Some downtown business owners are questioning the municipal response to a sewer backup that affected numerous commercial and residential buildings in the core about three weeks ago. Wellington Street resident Mike MacDonald was the first to advise Mapleton Township of the problem around 7am on April 11. MacDonald said he noticed “a funny smell” in the house. “We’ve had flooding before so we kind of recognize the smell of water in the house.” After several attempts to call the township office he connected through an emergency number and was advised the matter would be dealt with. “We had about six, seven inches of water in the basement. It was coming in pretty good,” said MacDonald in a May 2 interview with the Community News. “It was gushing up through my floor drain in my basement like a geyser … It was just shooting up like, I don’t know 10, 11 inches off the ground.” MacDonald said township workers were on the scene quickly and started pumping and as soon as they started, the flooding in his basement stopped. This spring was the second time MacDonald has experienced flooding at this residence. The first time, in 2008, “I had about two feet of water in my basement. It was way worse.”
After the water receded, MacDonald said he sprayed his basement with a solution of bleach and water, ran a dehumidifier for a few days and said things seem to be fine. MacDonald says he has no problem with the township’s response to the incident, but wishes preventative measures had been in place. “I would have liked it dealt with before I had to deal with it. I’m sure they could put those things in place without it costing a fortune,” he stated. “I don’t like the idea that sewage backs up, but I do live on a flood plain,” he said, noting he doesn’t keep anything in his basement for that reason. He said municipal workers, “seemed to do their job fairly quickly. “If they deployed the pump trucks out here by six or seven o’clock in morning I would never have had water in my basement. It just sucked that I had to be the alert to let them know.” Jackie Coverdale said she wasn’t aware of any problems until she came into work at the Living Well Centre the following Tuesday, April 15. She discovered the furnace wasn’t working and tried some breaker switches before heading across to the local hardware store to buy a heater. At the hardware store, she learned local businesses had been advised on Friday of the flooding situation and told it was due to a broken pump at the sewage treatment facility.
Coverdale said, after checking with the township, she learned they had not called her but had called a former employee who hasn’t worked for her since December. Coverdale said the waterline in her basement was up about two feet on the wall. When she called her insurance company, as township officials had suggested, she learned she had no coverage. Coverdale said she called the township again and was advised the backup material was raw sewage. “I said I don’t have insurance coverage for it and it’s unfair that I should have to cover this expense,” said Coverdale. On April 22, she was contacted by an adjuster for the township’s insurer, who took photographs of her basement. After two days passed, Coverdale emailed the adjuster, who told her not to expect a quick reply and reminded her “it’s your responsibility to mitigate expenses.” She said she was told she could expect a preliminary answer on what would be covered sometime in next two or three weeks. In the meantime, she has replaced her furnace and water heater at her own expense. However, she noted, “The place has a musty smell and quite frankly with my furnace down there it’s unhealthy.” Coverdale said, “I don’t have the money to fork over Continued on page 5
Area MPPs hit campaign trail as Liberal budget fails to gain support by Patrick Raftis and Kris Svela PERTH WELLINGTON – Ontarians will go to the polls on June 12. On May 2, Premier Kathleen Wynne asked Lieutenant Governor David Onley to dissolve the legislature after the Conservatives and New Democrats both indicated they would not support a budget introduced the previous day by Wynne’s minority government. Guelph MPP and education minister Liz Sandals said the Liberal campaign will focus on the contents of the budget. “We’re running on the budget because the budget encompasses so many things we want to do,” Sandals added. The government stated the budget, which calls for a deficit of $11.3 billion this year, is part of a 10-year plan for the economy, which would see a balanced budget delivered in 2017-18. Budget highlights include:
- a new 10-year, $2.5-billion Jobs and Prosperity Fund aimed at improving Ontario’s ability to attract significant business investments; - $295 million over two years for the Ontario Youth Jobs Strategy; - nearly $29 billion over the next 10 years for transportation infrastructure, public transit and other infrastructure projects ($15 billion for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and nearly $14 billion for municipalities outside the GTHA); - more than $11 billion over the next 10 years for elementary and secondary education infrastructure; - $11.4 billion in major hospital expansion and redevelopment projects over the next 10 years; - a provincial pension plan to be accessible by Ontarians without company pension plans;
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- raising the minimum wage to $11 per hour and proposing legislation to index it to inflation; and - proposing to remove the debt retirement charge ($70 a year for the typical user) from residential users’ electricity bills after Dec. 31, 2015. Perth-Wellington MPP Randy Pettapiece said the budget amounts to a Liberal election platform that doesn’t address the needs of riding residents. “It says to me they are taking another kick at rural and small-town Ontario,” stated Pettapiece in a post-budget press release. “Agriculture was hardly mentioned at all in the budget,” the Conservative MPP told the Community News. “They’ve just introduced a budget of increased spending and no solutions for job creation. Certainly one of the things I’m concerned with as rural affairs critic with the party is try to make sure
that rural Ontario not only kept the jobs we have, but trying to get industries and whatever else looking at rural Ontario for job creation.” High energy rates in Ontario are another concern for local residents, said Pettapiece, one he said his party would deal with by cutting subsidies to alternative energy producers. “The Green Energy Act would be finished,” Pettapiece stated. “We want to get rid of FIT, the Feed-in Tariff program … we’re paying too many subsidies to keep these things going. So it’s been a totally-failed initiative by this government and we need to get that addressed.” Pettapiece said the proposed pension plan would put pressure on workers and businesses. “It’s just another tax and people are already having issues paying their bills now. These monies that they are talking about come out of your
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paycheque - plus the small businesses are going to have to come up with it,” he stated. “We feel we need to get Ontario back working. There’s about 600,000 people without a job in Ontario right now and those people wouldn’t benefit at all from a tax such as this pension plan tax,” Pettapiece added. He dismissed the potential impact on jobs of the proposed infrastructure spending in the budget, stating, “The government has introduced a number of things which inhibit job creation - one being the college of trades. That’s something we’ve heard over and over again, about what is the college of trades and what does it do? Well, it doesn’t do anything other than it has increased fees for tradespeople.” Pettapiece also said his party’s plans to improve Ontario’s apprenticeship system could create 200,000 jobs.
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“We believe there’s ways of doing things and helping people in Ontario without raising taxes.” Pettapiece said the Liberals presented “a tax and spend budget. “With all things combined they were looking at almost another billion dollars in tax increases.” He said the document “really pandered to the NDP, hoping the NDP would buy into it.” Asked if there was anything in the budget he liked, the MPP laughed then stated, “For almost two and a half years we’ve been seeing this government flounder around, whether it was under Dalton McGuinty or Kathleen Wynne. There’s two OPP investigations going on right now. There could be more. There’s been a lot of things come to light that we’re looking at. Why keep a government in power that hasn’t served the needs of Ontario?”
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