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Toronto, ON -
August 23, 2007 - The Keele Pool Action Committee, a
community group established earlier this year to prevent the
planned closure of Toronto neighbourhood swimming pools, will be
having a press conference this Friday morning at Queen's Park.
The objective will be to appeal to Premier Dalton McGuinty to
reverse the previous Progressive Conservative government's
funding cuts and spend a fraction of the recent $2.3 billion
provincial budget surplus on saving the pools.
Keele Street Swimming Pool, one of 36 school
board-owned pools to be eventually axed due to Education
Ministry underfunding, is being forced to close its doors to the
general public this Sunday, August 26 but will remain open to
Mountview Alternative and Keele Street Junior Public School
students for the remainder of the school year. The relatively
new pool, built in the 1980s, is scheduled to be fully
decommissioned and moth-balled next June.
Participants in the press conference will
include local resident Tom Freda and his 7 year old son Alec who
takes swimming classes at the pool. Mr. Freda lost a brother and
grandfather to accidental drowning and is a strong advocate of
swimming lessons and drowning prevention education for children.
"Most city-dwellers don't have beach-front
cottages or easy access to clean swimming areas," said Mr.
Freda. "Our perfectly good pools are the only places many
children have to learn to swim. How many preventable deaths will
result from closing these pools?"
According to the latest statistics,
preventable drowning incidents are up 18 percent in Ontario to
144, with 71 percent of those victims being “urban” residents.
Also providing media comments will be
Margaret Hawthorn and Katrina Hall, both of whom live in the
neighbourhood. They'll be presenting the case for preserving the
pools for use by the community at large.
"From a health standpoint," says Ms.
Hawthorne, "there's a very strong case for not letting these
facilities close. Like much of Toronto, roughly a quarter of the
population of Parkdale High Park is 45 years of age or older,
exactly when problems like arthritis and osteoporosis may first
appear. It just doesn't make sense to ignore those statistics
when The Arthritis Society is actively promoting aquatic
programs at community pools as a proven therapy.
Katrina Hall agrees. "Childhood obesity is
also a growing health problem. The government's Ministry of
Health even acknowledged that fact in a 2004 Chief Medical Officer
Report which called for combating it with policies that promote
physical activity and making recreational facilities more
accessible. It even suggests provincial funding of a national
physical activity promotion program."
"It's hypocritical," she adds. "This
government appears to be giving with one hand and taking away
with the other."
Other local residents will be also
attending, as will Parkdale - High Park MP Peggy Nash and the
host of the press conference, MPP Cheri DiNovo. |
