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The glory days of a massive manufacturing base for Ontario are in the past and they won‘t return. These massive consumers of power are being replaced by more technologicallyâ€"advanced operations, such as New Automation of Oakville that‘s profiled on today‘s business page. Theâ€"Ontario of the future will have more businessâ€" es but they will be smaller, leaner and more able to cope with change and be flexible to changing market conditions and consumers‘ wishes. If Maurice Strong continues along this line of thinking, ultimately, everyone in Ontario will benefit. In rejecting,or putting these plans on hold, Hydro was sending out the message that it had to protect its own bureaucracy at the expense of entrepreneurs and other freeâ€"enterprisers who could save their clients, that include municipalities, millions of dollars a vear. The new age of conserving energy, driven not only by environmental concerns but also economic implications, means that Hydro‘s projections for consumption have been wildly overâ€"estimated and now bear no semblance of reality. With no new construction projects on the horizon, the hundreds of people involved in this process will not be needed in the foreseeable future and if the need does come, it could be more costâ€"effectively dealt with by the private sector. In fact it‘s this area where Hydro has fallen down on the job. Countless powerâ€" generating projects have been planned by independent power producers but Hydro has been loathe to accept these because there‘s already an overâ€"capacity on the power grid. But the fact is that these producers will do the job cheaper and more efficiently than the ponderous Hydro operation. But new Ontario Hydro chairman Maurice Strong was determined to turn things around and he‘s already started that very painful adjustment. In commenting on the most current 7.9 per cent hydro increase, Strong said that such an increase would happen again "over my dead body". In fact the chairman vows to freeze hydro prices for next vear. The saga of Ontario Hydro is one of a bloated bureaucracy and highlyâ€"paid workâ€" force that couldn‘t translate massive expenditures into an efficient electricityâ€"producâ€" ing operation. Add to this performance problems with other generating stations and massive costs of refurbishing the Douglas Point nuclear plant and you have a recipe for disasâ€" ter. But all of these factors started to unravel in the mid 1980s and really started to deteriorate over the past three years when consumers have seen our electricity costs skyrocket by almost 30 per cent. Almost all of the money taken in was going out the other door to pay for the utiliâ€" ty‘s massive $34â€"billion debt and the outâ€"ofâ€"control costs of the Darlington nuclear power facility east of Oshawa. Ontario Hydro used to be the example of a firstâ€"rate utility but in the past few years it has dug itself into a hole of its own making and no one in its corporate offices or at Queen‘s Park has had the guts to deal decisively with the problem. And Ontario Hydro is a major problem. One of the most attractive reasons for jobâ€"creating manufacturers to locate here, has always been the relatively low cost of electricity and the reliability of supply. ne of the worstâ€"kept secrets in this province has been the apparent ineptitude of Ontario Hydro in controlling its costs, estimating electrical need and dealâ€" ing with alternative power generation sources to nuclear. All of this corporate mismanagement has finally come home to roost with the announcement that Hydro is cutting about 45(() jobs through earlyâ€"retirement, attriâ€" tion and outright layoffs. & Ca s 4 t “l w‘ Gatiint EL ht 167 Speers Road, Oakville, Ont. L6K 845â€"3824 Fax: 845â€"3085 Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Allldaizis.nar awan s nar aws Dear Sir: Many writers to the editor seem to believe that this newspaâ€" per has some special bias against the Halton Board of Education. A review of various articles over the vears would demonstrate othâ€" erwise Paper ably reporting all sides of Board issues Recall that the Oakville Beaver was the first to introduce the two major groups on both sides of the Perdue/OT closure issues. After several years of reporting the full debate, the Beaver ran three in depth editoriâ€" als finally siding with the Board decision to rebuilt OTHS much to the disappointment of many citizens. They later clarified this opinion to worry that the school was being built in the wrong location. We may yet see that this newspaper made a prophetic judgement. Freedom of Information open to some abuses Dear Sir: The Freedom of Information Act appears to be a double edged sword in which its use should be viewed with caution. It can be used effectively and appropriately by concerned citiâ€" zens. Such use will encourage pubâ€" lic institutions to be open and responsive to genuine public conâ€" cerns. It can, also, be abused by fanatiâ€" cal, special interest groups. Someone with an axe to grind can use the act to obtain information readily available through normal channels. This ploy creates the illusion that the institution, their ‘enemy‘, is trying to hide someâ€" thing. It, also, costs their enemy a lot of time and money on the paper work required by the Act. A quality newspaper would, through careful investigation and reporting of the facts, support the genuine uses of the Act. It would, also, identify the crack pots and not be sucked in by them. I fear that the Beaver has considerable room for improvement in this area. G. Rogers Well before any of the critical It‘s about time EDITORIAL decisions over the last four years. The Beaver warned that the Halton Board was on a disastrous course in public relations. The Board took this to heart, but went in the opposite direction. We now know they hired a public relaâ€" tions firm and assigned a secreâ€" tive group of supporters known as Key Communicators to handle the problem. Every elected municipal govâ€" ernment has to face the Ontario Municipal Board on numerous decisions. When faced with the same challenge on OTHS, the Halton Board did an end run under the banner of democracy, by claiming that it would simply deplete its entire reserve fund and avoid borrowing money to pay for the new OTHS. Irate citiâ€" zens, bent on ensuring that the Board would be held to this effort, then began a massive examination of various Board operations under Freedom of Information requests, to see where the money was being I think they should do something about our bus system in Oakville. They should have buses running longer and on Sundays they should start them earlier. A reminder that people can still participate in the Oakville Beaver‘s Weekly Poll â€" Should public school teachers be asked to donate a day‘s pay in order to reduce the Halton Board of Education‘s 1993 budget?â€" by calling Phone Alone 845â€"5585, box 5008 to cast their ballots. And there is still time to respond to the Question of the Week â€" What measures should the province take to cut its deficit? â€" by callâ€" ing Phone Alone 845â€"5585, box 5012. PHONE ALONE CALL845â€"5585 ‘HE O SPEAK YOUR MIND Got a gripe? Give us a call. Readers are invited to express their opinion on a topic of their choice by calling 845â€"5585, box All callers are allowed 45 secâ€" onds to express their opinion and must provide their name, address and phone number for verification. A cross section of the responses will be published in next Wednesday‘s Oakville Beaver. spent. And they turned up a lot more. It was about this time that the Beaver seriously began to quesâ€" tion why much of the information was not simply available to the public. These capital and operaâ€" tions expenditures are enormous when compared with Regional and Municipal governments. I think the Beaver was amazed along with the rest of us that politicians, committee activists, and supposedly average citizens, who had been freely commenting on education issues were in fact part of a secret cheerleading team. We felt used, but they saw the system being abused. But it is little wonder that the Burlington Spectator seems open to suggestions from the Halton Board, one of its staff members was a Key Communicator. They just don‘t get it. The old reasonâ€" The reason OTHS is in the news is not some nostalgia craze, it is a question of how tax dollars were and are spent. R%. ygs The Oakville Beaver welcomes your comments. All letters must be signed and include the writer‘s address and phone number. Letters should be typed, doubleâ€"spaced and addressed to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, Ont. L6K 354 Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Circulation: 845â€"9742 or 845â€"9743 J. Roberts THE OAKVII Jelinek wrong choice Canadians have had enough of politicians who skate around the issues; and who is, and would be, better at that than dear old Otto. If the Town of Oakville were to spend a lot of money on snow removal equipment, then we could say that there is something wrong with the way our tax dolâ€" lars are being spent. Of the 10 years that I have lived in Oakville, I can only recall two winters (this being one of them) where there was any substantial amount of snow to remove. As for the pile at the end of the driveâ€" way, Id rather shovel for a few minutes a couple of times a year than see an increase in tax to pay for new equipment. There are programs available for people who are not physically able to remove this snow themselves. I would think that a plough with a blade that has to be raised and lowered at each driveway would increase the time it takes to get all the roads in Oakville ploughed. And ultimately, this would increase the labor expense . I do agree with one point and that is that the public works dept. does a fine job on our roads. Dear Sir: If the Tories choose Otto Jelinek as their new leader, I‘m afraid they would be treading on thin ice. I say to the Tories, give him the boot! He‘ll never cut a winning figâ€" ure that Canadians voters will buy. ing by which boards and municiâ€" palities were financed, staffed and operated is simply losing its basis. We should be thankful that the Beaver has been here to get the news and give the various sides to each issue. Dear Sir: Re: Fri. March 5th letter to the editor from Betty McLean. Not enough snow to warrant new equipment AV EI ty Geoffrey W. Smith Lori O‘Boyle Ed Smith Teri Casas Office Manager Geoff Hil Circulation Director Ian Oliver Publisher Robert Glasbey Advertising Dir Norman Alexander Editor Tim Coles Production Manager First, it‘s good to see that these issues are important enough to require input into our local paper, even if it is by those who are so dissatisfied with the Beaver. This helps, to periodically remind those of us who are trusting and forgiving, that we should be cautious when it comes to issues involving our tax dollars and the Board of Education. I am also curious to know, whether her friends from Edmonton were knowledgeable of their Key Communicator Program from the start, or, did they have to find out about it months later through the media? Dear Sir: I would like the opportunity to say Touché to Ms. Strohm and her letter of March 3rd. She states that "the people of Oakville are thoroughly sick and tired of the O.T. issue and the Key Communicator issue". Perhaps she should read her letter once again. Talk about fuelling a burning fire. Well done Ms. Strohm! May I offer you a little advice? If you are truly fed up of this paper as you have indicated, then I suggest that you cancel your subscription entirely. Practice what you preach! Don‘t use an innocent child as a cover up. Oh, and by the way, I am, one of the "people of Oakville", a 34â€"year resident of Oakville. I would appreciate it, if you did not speak on my behalf. Thank you. However, since the Beaver was very gracious about publishâ€" ing her letter, which, encourages its subscribers to buy and read the competition, I would like to take this opportunity to respond to Ms. Strohm‘s letter, for two reasons. Secondly, I was delighted with her analogy of the quality of reporting done by the Beaver and that of the competition. I am relieved to hear that we are not getting information through roseâ€"colored glasses and that, clear and accurate facts are being reported in our "Awardâ€"Winning Community Newspaper." I would hate to think that we were getting only one side of the story. The facts are the facts, and the truth is the truth. Is there not an expression that says, "sometimes the truth hurts?" No roseâ€"colored reporting of Board issues in newspaper The cost of water in Germany, per cubic meter, is more than three times that in the United States, and more than four times the cost in Canada. mc c The Netherlands United States Great Britain LETTER OF THE DAY Germany Australia Sweden Belgium Canada Norway Finland Ireland | WEEKLY FOCUS rance 5.72 | $ : o M K: y d 51.17 | Graphic S. Moed 10, 199 8 &