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The Observer | Saturday, March 29, 2008
Laughs plentiful in Norm Foster’s Jasper Station........................................ ........................................ »22
Elmira’s Wideman in NhL playoff hunt
»17 VOLUME 13, ISSUE 13
Kissing bridge UW heritage project seeks public input
SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 2008
www. www.ObserverXtra.com
PRICELESS
A sure sign of spring, even if the weather isn’t
MARC MIQUEL HELSEN Do the trees that line the Grand River at the West Montrose Covered Bridge and the rolling hills adjacent to it add to the overall experience of visiting the regional gem? Should, then, the physical landscape and the historical buildings in the area be protected by the same heritage designation policies? Those issues will be the focus of the West Montrose Cultural Heritage Project, an initiative by the planning department at the University of Waterloo as it surveys the public for its opinions. Through maps, pictures and a 15-minute survey available on the project website, researchers are hoping to ascertain exactly what makes the area unique. The online survey wraps up Apr. 23. “We’ve had a series of focus groups with local people to determine what they think is important about the landscape; the whole effort is triggered because these kinds of areas that are considered significant under the Planning Act, they are supposed to be identified and conserved,” said project researcher Robert Shipley, a professor of planning at UW. “Our project has been aimed at trying to understand exactly what it means for these areas to be significant, and what sort of measures there might be to make sure that what’s valuable about them is protected,” he explained, suggesting that protecting the actual covered bridge and its surroundings are, currently, two different tasks. See HERITAGE page »06
AND THEy’RE OFF Danya Bowman was among the throng of children hunting for treats at the First Annual Easter Egg Hunt held Mar. 22 by the Elmira Optimists at Bolender PHOTO | MARC MIqUEL HELSEN Park in Elmira.
Province unveils modest budget
Minor economic stimulus package included as Ontario faces uncertain times MARC MIQUEL HELSEN Modest economic stimulus is the focus of the Ontario budget announced Tuesday. The McGuinty government emphasizes job training, the poor and the health care system in a middle-ofthe-road package. The budget provides for a $1.5-billion, three-year Skills to Jobs Action Plan meant to get more Ontarians into well-paying jobs and help 20,000 unemployed workers make the transition to new careers and well-paying jobs in
growing areas of the economy. The government will inject another $1 billion this year into municipal infrastructure programs, with the goal of supporting construction jobs. Also on tap is a new property tax grant for seniors that will help about 550,000 senior homeowners deal with property taxes; a boost in the healthcare budget to hire 9,000 more nurses, and establish 50 more family health teams; $135 million over three years for a free dental care program for poor families, $32 million over the same period for student nutrition programs in
schools and community centres; and $190 million in new funding for early identification of chronic diseases beginning with diabetes. There are no new taxes, and some modest cuts. With a recession looming south of the border, rising oil prices and a booming Canadian dollar, there had been calls for the McGuinty government to lower business taxes. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has been leading the charge. The kind of radical cuts proposed See BUDGET page »02