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02 | 25 | 2016 VOLUME 21 | ISSUE 08
TAKING HIS TALENTS TO VEGAS AND TV LIVING HERE PAGE 24
COMMENT PAGE 6
PROVINCIAL SPENDING PRIORITIES ALL WRONG
Crown decides to continue with charges against Shantz Case involving Woolwich mayor’s election expense report to be turned over to prosecutor from London LIZ BEVAN PROSECUTORS ARE GOING AHEAD with a case against Woolwich Mayor Sandy Shantz related to election expenses filed after the 2014 municipal vote. In Provincial Offenses Court Wednesday morning, Crown lawyers said they intend to pursue charges brought forward by Elmira resident Alan Marshall. The case has been in and out of the provincial court in Kitchener for months now, with no decision. At an appearance before Justice of the Peace Ralph Cotter, prosecutor Alexander Andres told the court there is sufficient cause to continue. “At this stage, it has been determined that the Crown is intervening,” he told the JOP. The charges were brought against Shantz last summer by Marshall under the Municipal Elections Act. He says he is happy to see the province moving ahead with the case. “I am pleased they are looking at it seriously. My concern was that the Municipal Elections Act was simply a sham. They are really looking into it,
www.OBSERVERXTRA.com
MPP pushes for better care for those afflicted with rare diseases
HIGH SCHOOL/ ANTI-BULLYING
EDSS finds itself in the pink on Wednesday EDSS and schools across the country were swathed in pink shirts on Wednesday for Pink Shirt Day, an anti-bullying movement started by two Nova Scotia students. Former Elmira student Karley Sider created this winning T-shirt design which was worn by students and staff across Waterloo Region. [WHITNEY NEILSON / THE OBSERVER]
LIZ BEVAN CAN YOU IMAGINE HAVING to travel across the country just to have surgery? What about having to take out thousands of dollars in loans to pay for medication and medical equipment? This is the reality of hundreds of Ontarians with rare diseases. Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Michael Harris wants it to stop. Harris met Feb. 19 with local rare-disease sufferers, including Elmira’s Ed Speers who received a double-lung transplant in 2012, and their families. The Kitchener event saw the end of a province-wide tour to garner support for his private member’s motion to form an all-party select committee to create recommendations for future rare disease treatment.
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He says the roundtable discussion was very informative, and he is hoping that when his motion is put forth on Mar. 3, that the government will push forward to create a committee. “I don’t have the solution, but I am hoping that through the select committee, which is a committee of MPPs that would tour the province, and hear from rare disease sufferers, families, academics and experts and others, that we could come up with recommendations on how we can better support people in Ontario with a rare disease,” he said after the meeting. One of the biggest problems Harris heard about from those who have been diagnosed with a rare disease, such as Atypical Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome, a disease that affects the body’s immune system, or Ehlers-Danos syndrome, a condition that affects skin, muscles
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