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CELPIP Practice Reading: Reading for Viewpoints ID: #63181 Easy Open Doors and Honest Prices at the Rec Centre

Read the following editorial from a website.

At the Mundy Road centre, our reporter found 140 names on the waiting list for aquafit alone. Similar queues for child care after school and for Saturday basketball have pushed Coquitlam council to rethink how its community centres charge. We believe the answer lies between the two loudest positions: keep a core of free hours open to everyone, and charge fairly for the rest.

Odette Takahashi, the recreation director, wants fees based on income for premium classes. She told council that enrolment sheets show paid programs cover the cost of free open-gym hours. “Make everything free, and the first thing to go when money gets tight is the instructor,” she said. Her plan works only if low-income households can get a waiver without filling out pages of forms. Ahmad Buckler, an advocate for newcomer families, says embarrassment and long forms are already driving many newcomers away from the very centres that call themselves welcoming. His alternative is a set of free hours at every centre, with anyone who wants a specialty course paying extra for it.

Tamsin Kilpatrick, a finance clerk, treats the question as arithmetic. She is willing to guarantee some free hours, but she says council must line up a reliable new source of revenue before it drops fees for good. She also points out that free classes already cost the centres money through no-shows, since people who pay nothing often skip without cancelling. Gabriel Nandi, a father of three who uses the Mundy Road pool, says a waiver program only works if applying is simple and private. He backs Takahashi on keeping instructors, but on the drop-in gym he sides with Buckler: it should stay free for every person who comes in off the street.

We do not think any single speaker has the whole answer here. Takahashi is correct that paid classes keep instructors on staff, and Kilpatrick is correct that free hours need a funding source. But Buckler and Nandi remind us that a fee system nobody dares to use helps no one. Our recommendation is that council keep drop-in gym and swim hours free, charge income-based fees for specialty classes, and replace the current application with a one-page form that front-desk staff never see. We also recommend a report after one year on who is actually using the waivers.

Using the drop-down menu (▾), choose the best option according to the information given on the website.

This editorial is about 1.
.

Who most clearly argues that forms and paperwork drive newcomers away? 2.
.

Odette Takahashi’s position would most likely be supported by 3.
.

What outcome does Tamsin Kilpatrick’s condition call for? 4.
.

The tone of the editorial is best described as 5.
.

The following is a comment by a visitor to the website page. Complete the comment by choosing the best option to fill in each blank.

My two children have swum at one of these centres every winter since they were small, which is why this editorial caught my eye. Odette Takahashi warns that if everything is free, 6.
, and council should weigh that warning carefully. The newcomer advocate would rather see 7.
, which deserves a proper costing ahead of any vote at city hall. Tamsin Kilpatrick adds that 8.
, and I would like council to see those figures before it votes. Gabriel Nandi is right to ask for 9.
 before anything else changes. I was also struck by the editorial’s finding that 10.
, a number that tells the whole story.

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