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OPINION With the federal election campaign now head- ing into the final turn, we hope voters in Wellington-Halton Hills have made the effort to find out about the five candidates vying for a seat in Parliament before casting their ballot. While the local turnout in the last federal elec- tion was a respectable 71 per cent (nationally the number was 64.7 per cent and provincially 66.6 per cent), we hope even more residents take the opportunity this time to have their say in how this country is run. Policies and politics aside, all five local candi- dates Michael Chong (Conservative), Bruce Bowser (Liberal), Noel Duignan (New Democratic Party), Brent Bouteiller (Green) and Jeffery Streutker (Christian Heritage Party) deserve our thanks for putting their names forward as candidates. Voters have had no shortage of chances to put the candidates under the microscope as several (including five in Halton Hills) all-candidates meetings have been scheduled throughout this campaign. The candidates were scheduled to put their views forward to the business community early this morning at the Halton Hills Chamber of Commerce breakfast and later to students at Acton High School. In todays Independent & Free Press we posed our own questions to the candidates and offer profiles on each of them. We hope that young voters and especially those able to cast a ballot for the first time take advantage of this special gift available to them and become engaged in the electoral process. Our soldiers have fought for this very right that far too many choose to ignore. We firmly believe that if you choose not to vote you forfeit your right to complain about the gov- ernment you get. Get informed and cast a ballot. Its the right thing to do. Its your duty Steve Nease LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear vandals, You know (of course you do), that we, at lole Sacroeur in Georgetown, planted a vegetable gar- den and new flower beds this year. We did so because we are trying, as a school, to provide alternative means of learning for all our students, includ- ing the ones who have special needs. We also wanted to increase the envi- ronmental awareness of all. Your efforts to do harm have thwarted our efforts to do good. We knew that you would be watch- ing. We even calculated your fair share. One of the teachers said that if someone should take the vegetables, they must need them more than we did. However, did you NEED to sit in our garden and break off two-thirds of the 50 tomato plants and stack them in neat little piles? Did you NEED to take every single squash and smash it in our school yard? You were obviously not hungry. Did you NEED to take a shov- el and dig up five newly-planted flow- ers? Here are the facts. We had to raise the money in order to build this gar- den. Several students, parents, teachers spent many hours planning, digging, cutting, watering and planting for this project to happen. Every student who wanted to, planted the seeds that they wanted to watch grow over the sum- mer. So, you see, this garden is the labour of the entire community and by doing your sad work, you are destroy- ing ours. Maybe you are bored, jealous or simply do not like us. Should you want to make amends, we would gladly give you your own section of the garden to plant next spring. You can tend it yourself and share with us the fruits of your own labour. You may be a team of one or of many; you may be older or younger but whoever you are, I am letting you know that we will be planting trees this fall. They will be there to provide shade to all and a habitat for animals. Please leave us our trees. Maryse Mallet-Sinnis, on behalf of the environmental committee de lole Sacroeur Vandals wont deter schools gardeners Letters to the editor must include an address and daytime telephone number. Unsigned letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 200 words and may be edited for content and/or length. E-mail: jmcghie@independentfreepress.com Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 29, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1 Publisher Ken Nugent General manager Steve Foreman (sforeman@independentfreepress.com) Retail advertising manager Cindi Campbell (ccampbell@independentfreepress.com) Managing editor John McGhie (jmcghie@independentfreepress.com) Distribution manager Nancy Geissler (ngeissler@independentfreepress.com) ADVERTISING Advertising co-ordinator Jennifer Christie (jchristie@independentfreepress.com) Retail Sales: Jennifer Spencer (jspencer@independentfreepress.com) Brendan Louth (blouth@independentfreepress.com) Amy Sykes (features@independentfreepress.com) Andrea Lefebvre (alefebvre@independentfreepress.com) Brendon Stevenson (bstevenson@independentfreepress.com) Real estate: Sue Spizziri (realestate@independentfreepress.com) Classifieds: Kristie Pells (classified@independentfreepress.com) ACCOUNTING Rose Marie Gauthier, Michelle McEachern EDITORIAL Cynthia Gamble: News editor (cgamble@independentfreepress.com) Ted Brown: Photography (tbrown@independentfreepress.com) Lisa Tallyn: Staff writer (ltallyn@independentfreepress.com) Eamonn Maher: Staff writer/sports (emaher@independentfreepress.com) PRODUCTION: Mary Lou Foreman, Kevin Powell, Shelli Harrison, Dolores Black, Debbie MacDougall STAFF DIRECTORY Send us a letter! Phone: 905-873-0301 Fax: 905-873-0398www.independentfreepress.com Something bugging you? What do you think? Below are the results of our most recent online poll. For the current poll go to www.independentfreepress.com Do you think opinion polls should be published during election campaigns? Yes (67%) No (33%) The Independent & Free Press is published Wednesday and Friday and is one of several Metroland Media Group Ltd. community newspapers. Editorial and advertising content of The Independent & Free Press is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE INDEPENDENT & FREE PRESS 6 Acton/Georgetown, Friday, October 3, 2008 Dear editor, The birth of our daughter required that we decide between an OB and a midwife. After a great deal of consider- ation, it came down to one simple, yet overwhelmingly large difference; per- sonal attention. The good doctors in our current health care system are severely over- burdened with patients and simply cannot devote the same amount of time and one-on-one attention that our midwives can. The midwives were absolutely amazing and we would rec- ommend them to anyone having a baby. What we do not understand though is why we had to deliver our baby in a foreign city. To date, Georgetown Hospital does not allow hospital privileges to the midwife profession. For some unknown reason, those who choose midwifery care must have their child in either Brampton or Mississauga. Why are the hospitals in these cities more accepting of alternative health care? As a resident of Georgetown, why does my childs birth certificate state Mississauga? We all want what is best for our children and as such, the ability to choose what method of delivery we desire in the warmth and security of this lovely community seems best to me. I hope in the not-too-distant future that when my second child is born, he/she will be delivered by midwives in Georgetown Hospital. Paul and Erin Bryan, Georgetown New parents laud benefits of midwife care Dear editor, I would like to take this opportu- nity to thank all those local busi- nesses who contributed to the Bruce Trail Conservancys AGM September 19-21. Special thanks to Susan Lougheed for the donation of the cruise for two that was won by Molly Monahan. I can recommend the Gellert Centre to anyone considering hosting an event. Frances Walker, chair, Silent Auction Committee Businesses thanked