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6 Independent & Free Press,Thursday, December 2, 2010 OPINION Numbers game The recent news release from Allstate Canada indicating the driving habits of Halton Hills motorists is greatly improving reads well at first blush, but we think the results would be better taken with a grain of salt. According to the Allstate Canada data, between 2007 and 2010 Halton Hills drivers had four insurance claims per 100 cars, placing the town 16th in the study which rank Ontario communities based on Allstate Canada data. Halton Hills placed 24th in the previous study, meaning the town, with a 12.4 decrease in the rate of collisions was one of the two most improved communities in Ontario. Now, keep in mind this is an Allstateonly study which also only included communities with at least 300 cars insured by Allstate per year for the duration of the study. An Allstate spokesperson is also on record as saying that collisions may not have occurred in the city/town in which the policy holder lives and the survey did not consider who may have been at-fault. So, there are clearly some holes in the survey's findings to say, unequivocally, that local drivers are getting better at navigating their way around town. Allstate says the survey is conducted primarily to generate discussion about road safety and not pit communities against each other. It is also very upfront about how the data is gathered. However, for us to buy the argument local drivers are improving a similar survey involving all insurance companies would certainly carry more weight. 905-873-0301 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) Classifieds Kristie Pells (classified@independentfreepress.com) Accounting Rose Marie Gauthier 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) WEB POLL RESULTS Thousands of Ontarians went cross-border shopping during the U.S. Thanksgiving. Which of the following responses best reflects your opinion on shopping in the U.S. · If I can buy it cheaper in the U.S. I will shop until I drop and Canadian shops should do more to match U.S. prices (58%) · I won't shop over the border because it hurts Canadian retailers and our economy (42%) Steve Nease Go to www.independentfreepress.com Letters to the editor Chong's message was a `brush-off' Dear editor, Re: Firm says regulations `don't work', Nov. 11 story. MP Michael Chong's response to our local business people's plea for help was a brush off. There is no chance of Health Canada "changing the standards of evidence", because they don't have any. Their track record proves it. They routinely approve synthetic chemical pharmaceuticals that are often recalled later for patientpunishing side effects and deaths (7,500 for Vioxx alone). Yet they continue to accept false safety studies (claimed to be "science") from pharmaceutical corporations, from whom they receive their funding. And this while health claims and marketing approvals for effective, safe and scientifically proven natural health products get rejected. They claim "insufficient evidence" and Chong believes this. But no amount of evidence will ever prove sufficient to this propharmaceutical chemical "regulator". This is why Canadians continue to suffer with increasingly out-of-control epidemics of degenerative disease under the synthetic chemical medical monopoly. Mr. Chong thinks natural products lack scientific proof, so I strongly fear that he also supports Bill C36. This bill is nothing short of the final death blow to natural foods and health products in this country. It strips from us all of our basic Charter-protected right of choice and empowers our failed regulatory agency with outrageous dictatorial powers, with no recourse for victims. To me, rejecting natural health products, coupled with Bill C36, shows that our government is using our (justified) fear of (their) food and medical disasters, to strip our right of choice and destroy the natural products industry in Canada. This is just a plan to eliminate competition and human rights for rich chemical corporations, much the same way the rights-destroying Patriot Act passed on fear of terror after 911 in the U.S. Robert Glassford, Acton cious newspaper ink on this subject. Let's forget semantics-- "I said, you said, she said, he said" and understand that the owners of Cartwheels were merely identifying the Christ the King students as such--CtK students. Not to be confused with the other high school in town--Georgetown District. This is called using an adjective and modifying the noun for a better description of the students. The adjective lets readers know that it wasn't just "any students" from Georgetown but a specific group of students from a specific school. The owners of Cartwheels were not painting the entire CtK community with the same negative brush they were identifying which students broke their table. So the gist of all this wasted newspaper ink is this-- some teens from CtK broke a table that belongs to the Cartwheels Gym Centre. Please, CtK students who are responsible for breaking the table, just pay for the damages, buy the gym a new table and let's all move on. G. Powell, Georgetown Letters to the editor policy Letters must include an address and daytime telephone number. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 150 words and may be edited for content and/or length. Publication is not guaranteed. E-mail: jmcghie@independentfreepress.com Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 29, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1. Time to move on Dear editor, Re: Breaking of table `not intentional' (Nov. 18 letter). It's time to stop wasting pre- The Independent & Free Press The Independent & Free Press is published Tuesday and Thursday 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.