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Zurich Citizens News, 1974-11-21, Page 6PAGE 6 ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1974 The Minister of Transport- ation and Comminications, Mr. John Rhodes, informed the House this week of cahnges in the Krauss -Maffei Go -Urban demonstration programme at the CNE. Mr. Rhodes said that Krauss - Maffei which has been funded in part for this project by the west German government had concluded that they could not financially continue with the program, because of a recent decision by the West German government to withdraw from certain long-range technolog- ical programmes. Mr. Rhodes had been approached to see if arrangements would be made to modify the contract. Under a new agreement Ontario is allowed to use over $30 million worth of research and development data of the West German government and Krauss -Maffei, and the Minist- er told the Legislature that the Ontario Transportation Develop- ment Corporation will receive and assimilate the data as quickly as possible and begin using the Munich test track and vehicles as quickly as possible. The contract with Krauss - Maffei has been terminated and Ontario will be refunded all the money it has spent so far on the demonstration project at the CNE, and an interim payment of $8.5 million was made to cover most of the costs Ontario will have the use of the Krauss -Maffei test tract and test equipment in Munich free of charge. Since Krauss - Maffei will no longer be const- ructing the CNE test track and since the Ontario Government is able to use the Krauss -Maffei facilities in Munich, Mr. Rhodes said that further invest - Jottings by Jack from Queens Park ment in a demonstration track can now be postponed. Mr. Robert Nixon, Leader of the Opposition, who has vigorously criticized this system called on the Government to abandon the whole project and savethe taxpayers an astronom- ical amount of money. The Premier, Mr. William Davis, said that the Govern- ment was not apologizing for proceeding with research and development in the field of intermediate capacity transpor- tation. He said it may be that there are not many other juris- dictions doing it but the Prov- ince of Ontario initiated it to a great extent and will continue He said the Government was very anxious to resolve urban transportation problems, facing society, on a long term basis, and it was only fair to state that these problems will nor be solved by just bus transport- ation, or totally by streetcar or rail transportation but that it will take a combination of many things. The Ontario Housing Corp- oration came under fire this week when Mrs. Margaret Campbell, Liberal Member of St. George, called upon the Provincial Government to init- iate a full public inquiry into the activities of OI.1C. She said Ontario 'lousing Corporat- ion should be investigated fully, and the activities of officials at every level, including the Board of Directors should be scrutinized very carefully. A full official inquiry is imper- ative, and all records, includ- ing the Corporation's books and the minutes of the Board of Directors' meetings slhould be available for scrutiny. She said that in the past, when it was wowi BEDARD CONSTRUCTION really has the "know-how" when it comes to Building And Remodelling rte;,~�- grim *MODERN HOMES *NEW COTTAGES *BARNS & SHEDS *COMPLETE RENOVATIONS Give us a call for any type of Building Construction. Complete Backhoe Service Available Richard Bedard CONSTRUCTION 236-4679 - ZURICH requested that these documents be made available to Members of the Legislature, it had been refused. During the debates of the estimated of the Ministry of Housing, Mr. Robert Nixon, said he was concerned over the business acumen displayed by Ontario Housing Corporation.. Mr. Nixon was particularly referring to seven Government purchases which provided spec- ulative profits to three comp- anies in excess of one million dollars. Mr. Nixon said that Ontario Housing has assembled 2, 300 acres of land in the south- east portion of the present town of Milton formerly known as north Oakville. The assembled land will be used indefinitely for agricultural purposes but will eventually be available for housing development. The three companies purchased each of the seven properties less than seven months before selling to the Government and one prop- erty was owned by one of the companies, for only 32 days. The Government paid $579, 095 for that parcel on March 12, 1974, about $200, 000 or 54l more than this company had bought it for on February 8. Mr. Nixon said that six of the seven purchases were completed in March, 1974, when real estate prices around Toronto, were at their peak, and less than one month before the Treasurer's land specualtion tax was introduced, in an attempt to deflate these prices. According to Mr. Nixon, the government purchases at grossly inflated prices, simply rein- forced and accelerated the dangerous increase in land costs in southern Ontario at a time when all government init- iative should have been in exactly the opposite direction. Housing Minister, Donald Irvine said that Ontario Housing Corporation is conducting exp- eriments into the feasibility of using solar energy to heat home; If the economics are reasonable, consideration would be given to the installation of a system in one or two existing housing projects owned by OHC on an experimental basis. The solar energy would only be used to supplement conventional syst- ems rather than replace them. In view of recent newspaper reports, Mr. W.D. McKeough, Minister of Energy, made a brief statement in the Legisl- ature, on Ontario Hydro's abil- ity to meet the winter electr- ical power demands in the Prov- ince. He said this ability dep- ended on several factors. Be- cause of the loss of an addition- al one or more of Ontario Hydro's largest generators, and a prolonged cold snap, the system could be taxed very severely. However, Hydro is hopeful that at least one, and possibly two of the five 500, 000 kilowatt generators now shut down may be returned to service by the middle of December. Hydro's overall capacity, inclu- ding the five generators not presently in service, is 18.5 VEGETABLE FUTURE Canadian Consumption of fresh vegetables has increased far faster than our production, reports Consumers' Association of Canada. At present 40 to 50 per cent of our fresh vegetables are imported from the United States and consumption there is expected to overtake production by 1985. With an increased pop- ulation and consumption of vegetables expected to reach 200 pounds per capita per year by 1975, Canada may require an additional 100, 000 acres in vegetable production by 1975 and 150, 000 acres by 1980. million kilowatts, anticipated peak demand, is forecast as 14.5 million kilowatts. The combined capacityof the five units not in service is 2.5 million kilowatts. As regards the coal situation, Mr. McKeough said that Ont- ario Hydro normally stockpiles its winter needs before the shipping season closes in late November and did so this year. 3.5 to 5 million tons of U.S. coal is required to operate its generating facilities this winter. By the end of the shipping seas- on, December 1st, Ontario Hydro will have on hand 7.5 million tons of coal. This will carryit through any contingen- cies such as a strike in the coal supply system. THANK YOU ! A sincere "Thank -You" to our many loyal customers, for their continued patronage over the past years. It has been a pleasure serving you! May we also extend to all our friends a Very Merry Christmas and the best for the New Year! — Bab and Nancy McKinley Ratepayers of the TOWNSHIP OF HAY '1'Ihe second inslaltraefl of. the 1971 laxer of the 'Township of Elav are due 29 th. daa\of \ooember 1971 . After November 29th, Interest will be charged on outstanding taxes at the rate of l% per month. W. C. HORNER TAX COLLECTOR TOWNSHIP OF HAY ANNOUNCING BETTY and ARTS Foodliner and Annex GRAND BEND Phone 238-2123 ANNUAL CHRISTMAS DRAW In appreciation to all our Customers we will be presenting the following merchand- ise: 1st Draw - 1 Steer Hip of Beef (processed and frozen) Approx. Retail Value - $80. 2nd Draw - 2 Choice Loins of Pork (processed and frozen) Approx. Retail Value - $30. 3rd Draw - 30 Ibs Fresh Chicken Legs Approx. Retail Value - $28. Seven 4th Draws - 51b Bag Of Sugar To The Last Seven Tickets Drawn A CHANCE TO WIN WITH EVERY PURCHASE Contest Starts November 14 Draw To Be Made Monday, December 24