WITH A LITTLE OVER FOUR MONTHS left until the Oct. 10 provincial election, it looks as if the Ontario Liberals have already written off the new riding of Dufferin- Caledon as unwinnable.

How else does one explain the total lack of commitment to the riding by the McGuinty government, be it in the form of long-needed highway construction, improved GO Transit services or the provision of any capital investment with the desperately needed local employment.

Despite the announcement in the spring budget of plans to widen Highway 10 in Caledon, there has been no real evidence of anything about to happen in the current construction season, or even any clarification as to how much four-laning is planned between the southern outskirts of Caledon Village and the Dufferin 109 junction.

Perhaps the best evidence anywhere of successive government's indifference to the plight of Dufferin commuters is found at two locations on the southern outskirts of Orangeville.

One is the two bridges over the Credit river that were built in the aftermath of Hurricane Hazel in the fall of 1954. Both bridges were built to the fourlane standard then current (roughly 40 feet wide) in obvious anticipation that the highway would soon be widened.The other location is what currently stands as the "almost end" of Highway 9. Back in the 1960s, the highway which once ran along what later was dubbed Buena Vista Drive was diverted to line up with the southern edge of Orangeville, as the obvious first step toward creation of a Highway 9 bypass, the roadway that ultimately had to be built by Dufferin with most of the cost being borne by local property taxpayers, thanks to the Harris Conservatives having downloaded Highway 9 between Orangeville and Harriston.

Interestingly, although the Liberals did win the riding back in 1987 when it was called Dufferin- Peel, and although many of the newer local residents have moved here from Toronto ridings now held by the Liberals, the governing party obviously sees no possibility of there being a recurrence.

It all leaves us wondering how much it would have cost the government to give the party's candidate (sacrificial lamb?) Elizabeth Hall a fighting chance.

Seemingly, all that might have been needed was the letting of a contract for the first phase of the Highway 10 widening; a timetable for the project's completion; "reconnection" of Highway 9, and a commitment to erect two government offices (perhaps one in Orangeville and one in Bolton) to replace some of the deplorable rented facilities.

Instead, it seems the stage is set for Sylvia Jones' coronation as the latest in the long string of local Tory MPPs.