Jim Bradley

I would like to comment on the March 18th story about Ontario’s Drive Clean program that was published in The Weekly Voice.

Why does Drive Clean’s reduction of smog-causing emissions still matter?

The Ontario Medical Association estimates that smog contributes to 9,500 premature deaths a year in our province.  Smog reduction is a matter of environmental and medical prudence.  That is why a new Drive Clean program is now being designed in Quebec.

Drive Clean plays an important role in keeping our air clean because vehicle emissions are the biggest single source of Ontario-generated smog-causing pollution, despite the advances made in cleaner vehicles and fuels.  Without Drive Clean, cars and trucks would pollute even more.

Since 2007, Drive Clean-required repairs have reduced emissions from cars by an annual average of 36 per cent.  In 2010, Drive Clean repairs prevented nearly 35,000 tonnes of smog-causing pollutants from being released into the air.

Your readers should also know that Drive Clean is designed to be revenue neutral.  Most of the test fee goes to the garage that conducts the test.  A smaller portion goes to the Province to cover the costs of administering the test.

Since the new, faster, more accurate test began in January, nearly 350,000 motorists have taken the test at more than 900 conveniently located Drive Clean facilities around the province.

Drive Clean helps ensure our cars, trucks, buses and vans drive as cleanly as they were designed to.  When they do, it is good for the environment, your vehicle’s performance and everyone’s health.

Jim Bradley

Ontario Minister of the Environment

Your website is just what I’ve been wanting to find. This is usually very explanatory read. If every article author would be as website reader focussed just like you, existence could be far less difficult.

Glennie Moselle

As a regular reader of your newspaper, I’d like to wish you and all your readers a very Happy Christmas and New Year. And while I hope everyone has a nice time for the next 10 days, I’d like you to specifically remind all your readers that everyone has the right to enjoy the Christmas season equally. So, please ‘Do not drink and drive’.

Malcolm Aubera, Toronto

Thanks for providing such a wide coverage of news about what happens in our home country and even the rest of the world. I also like your business and sports news. I’m happy that both are broad enough to interest the young and the old. And of course, your Auto and Entertainment supplements are brilliant. Keep up the good work!

Dominic Dias, Brampton

It’s inspiring to see Sachin Tendulkar set records almost impossible for other batsmen to surpass… then break them himself. He’s truly a super-hero, an icon, a treasure only India possesses but coveted by other cricket-playing nations, if not sporting nations across the world, for his talent, discipline and attitude.

Inspired by your recap of events and news that you dutifully publish at the end of every year, (including for 2010 last week), it’d be great to see a recap of Sachin’s batsmanship from his debut until now in the pages of your newspaper. I’m sure it’ll become a collector’s item. Please oblige.

Kishen Chandrashekar, Toronto

A picture is worth a 1000 words it is said. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on the year-ending issue which gave a glimpse of happenings in South Asia in 2010.

I have always enjoyed reading The Weekly Voice throughout these years I’ve been in Canada. Though the Internet and the TV is good way of catching up on events back home, I still prefer the good old newspaper and the Voice does a good job in keeping me informed.

I’m sure 2010 was a big year for you too with the change in format and increased sections. I want to wish you and your team a very happy new year.

K. Subramanium

Diana Sequiera, Toronto

Seema Rathore, Markham

I was shocked to read today that a man who served 27 years in jail for a crime, (actually, a series of crimes) he didn’t commit, was today acquitted on all counts by a B. C. Appeals court. And why was he convicted in the first place? Because strangely, he refused to participate in a police line up all those years ago and had to be forced by policemen to show his face. Unfortunately for him, the move gave a side view of his face which a witness mistook as the real culprit. Now, 27 years later he’s free. And of course he could stand to be compensated to the tune of $10 million in damages, but at what cost? I don’t know if I should feel contempt or pity for the justice system. I’m too disturbed.

Minnie White, Brampton

Winter is still a month away but I’m already dreading the long waits at bus stops in Mississauga. I’m one of the unfortunate masses who do not own a car and must rely on the transit system to get to and from work. The bus routes on Tomken Road are scheduled every 20-25 minutes with one of them (Myerside) culminating at Courtney Park before turning back and the other proceeding all the way to Cardiff. So I,  who work beyond Courtney Park has to wait 40-45 minutes if I miss the Cardiff bus. My question is, why operate the Myerside route at all. I don’t see the bus full of passengers who must alight at the stops along the diverted route. (In fact, I hardly see any.) It could save all of us commuters who need to get beyond Courtney Park reach work earlier and out of the cold.

Lokesh Shah, Mississauga