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he provinces Royal Commission on Learning got off to a rocky start this I week when it heard from the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber says it‘s time the province reduced busing, eliminated junior kindergarten, professional development days, slashed the number of school trustees and end heritage language classes. Interestingly enough, the province is going in exactly the opposite direction. In Halton, the board of education has fought the implementation of Jâ€"K as being too expensive. Too bad, says the province, do it anyway. And so other moreâ€"needed programs go on the backburner to pay for what amounts to a taxâ€" payerâ€"subsidized daycare program. It‘s also very curious that in the very month these hearing start their crossâ€" Ontario hearings, the Ministry of Education and Training revealed the start of its "Ontario Parent Council‘ to give parents a direct say in their children‘s educaâ€" tion. Perhaps the ministry types are actually starting to see the light. Commission hearings continue through to Dec. 1st when the last meeting will be held in Mississauga, the closest the Commission gets to Oakville Anyone interesting in making a submission at that time should call 325â€"2707 (Fax: 325â€"2956). * We can hardly wait for the Commission‘s final report...and more important Iv. what the education ministry does with the recommendations. * Six council members, representing a different part of the province, will be named by regional selection committees composed of parents and other comâ€" munity members. Another nine members will be named by Education Minister Dave Cooke. (The nomination deadline is Oct. 7thâ€"call 314â€"2398 for an inforâ€" mation kit.) s very week, the pages of the Oakville Beaver and hundreds of other Onta Eiommunity newspapers are filled with the heart warming stories of the peoj ho are the heartbeat of our communities. For the past 12 years, newspapers like the Beaver have been paying spec recognition to Ontario‘s finest young people through the Junior Citizen of the Y Awards. Coordinated by the Oakvilleâ€"based Ontario Community Newspapers Association (OCNA), and with Bell Canada as the patron, the Junior Citizen of the Year Awards are presented each spring to 12 young people between the ages from 6â€"18 who have led by example and in so doing, have made their community an even better place in which to live. Nominees for the Junior Citizen Award include those who contribute to commuâ€" nity life while living with a physical or psychological limitation. Other nominees have faithfully volunteered their time and energy in community service work or have responded unselfishly in a moment of crisis or emergency. Many others are honored as Junior Citizens because they exemplify the characteristics of a ‘good kid‘ the helpful, courteous kind you‘ll find in each and every Ontario community. ~ OPINION Our readers are invited to nominate deserving young people for a Jumior Citizen Award by obtaining a nomination form from the OCNA office at 1184 Speers Rd. Nominations will be accepted until Oct. 31st. Some rays of light at Halton Board of Education Dear Sir: Taxpayers should applaud some of the actions of the Halton Public School Board, whose members were far from idle during the sumâ€" mer. 1. A permanent Audit Committee now exists. It has Terms of Reference sufficiently flexible that it can properly address any financial concern which might arise from the operations of the educaâ€" tion system. This very considerable accomplishment must be credited to the Board as a whole but to Trustee Diane Leblovic in particuâ€" Mixed message Dear Sir: I am sure the good citizens of Oakville and Milton were not surâ€" prised to receive Mr. Jelinek‘s final newsletter; by now they have become accustomed to having their hardâ€" earned tax dollars used in this way. What is even more upsetting is the blatant use of this newsletter for elecâ€" tioneering purposes. Could there posâ€" sibly be any other reason for his choosing a picture of himself and the Mayor of Oakville to adorn the cover? Dear Sir: The Summer Start Program is a federally funded stayâ€"inâ€"school initiaâ€" tive designed to enhance social, work Would he have chosen this picture had the Mayor not been running as the next P.C. candidate? I assume that some portion of the cost of printing and distributing this newsletter will be considered part of Mrs. Mulvale‘s campaign expenses? Killing bus service for 10 days stinks Dear Sir: I am alarmed at the Town‘s decision to cease operating Oakville Transit for 10 days durâ€" ing the Christmas season. The spirit and intent of the Social Contract is to reduce excess waste of taxpayer‘s dolâ€" lars in government run programs. There may well be excess waste at the Town of Oakville, but it is not evident in the fine perforâ€" mance of Oakville Transit. This Start program should be continued Young citizens Have your say EDITORIAL Terry Rose lar. Ms. Leblovic initiated it, shepâ€" herded in through Committee, argued logically and successfully for it. Their work, done right, can be at the heart of the Board‘s ongoâ€" ing efforts to get financial control. Committee meetings are open to the public, who should monitor and support it. 2. A hiring freeze has been imposed which requires Administration to fill staffing needs by reorganizing rather than hiring. This is partly response to the Social Contract, partly to the economic conditions, and partly a recognition and life skills by bridging the gap between work and school. This proâ€" gram is coâ€"ordinated by the North Halton/Oakville Youth Employment Service of the YM.C.A. We have just completed a very successful 1993 program and we wish to thank the following people, corporations and organizations without whose support this success would not have been posâ€" sible. is an excellent, efficient unit that provides an essential service to many residents. Frequently these passengers, the elderly, students, young moms, ordinary working folk (many of them have to work the holiday), and the physically and mentally challenged, have no other means of transportation. Indeed, it is no secret that access to OTMH during renovation and, since the introduction of the infaâ€" mous parking system, is best going in exactly the opposite direction. fought the implementation of Jâ€"K as province, do it anyway. And so other Regretfully, we have been @ _THE Oakviuus BEaver <sggi)" m T Wie | I NFO S O ALONE PHONE CALL845â€"5585 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 5250. 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. Education Committee. Wow! Would that we had a few more thinkingsâ€"outâ€"loud like that! Perhaps under such urgings the Board may recognize and adopt the pitiless driver that governs the industries and businesses whose that personnel costs have been growing excessively. It is very clear that the public‘s mood is; good it‘s not a moment too soon, make it permanent not temporary. 3. Trustee Don Cassidy muses out loud that it seems curious that the Board has many committees such as Finance but has no is seniously considering discontinuing its funding of the Start Program. We earnestly urge everyone to advocate on our behalf with your local MP and/or MPP to support the continued funding of this worthwhile program. If you have any queries regarding this matter please contact Colin Davidson, Start Coâ€"ordinator, at 338â€"5855. Abigail Noronha Assistant Trainer informed that the federal government achieved through Oakville Transit. The running of Oakville buses in the season to be jolly provides a good, cheap, alternative to Christmas revellers who might otherwise get behind the wheel of a car: It is an invaluable service, and to sever it at Christmas deserves serious, objective, reâ€" evaluation and consideration. L.A. O‘Dowd 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 addressged to: Letters to the Editor, The Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakvilie, Ont. L6K 354 P PiocetreatransssnstPitvcstthentroonntems ind ecseassternssennes AWecssathes | WN Classified Advertising: 845â€"2809 Circulation: 845â€"9742 or 845â€"9743 14 845â€"3824 Fax: 845â€"3085 peer THE OAKVILLE BEAVEL Ro. sovoon nssmc id. Oakville The Halton Board of Education has a long row to hoe, but they have made a start. Public interest and support would go a long way toward encouraging them in their increasing determination to get quality education at lower cost. Frank Gue, P.Eng., Taxpayers Coalition Halton Taxpayers _ Coalition _ is encouraged by these rays of light, and is anxious to see them focused into an organized, permanent proâ€" ductivity and quality improvement program with the clear objective: raise quality, reduce cost. We want to see "quality" in terms of student accomplishment as measured by tests; and "costs" in terms of expenditure per unit of service, ignoring provincial grants and simiâ€" lar offsets which are important for entirely unrelated reasons. As the unhappy owners of one of the highâ€" est cost education systems in the world, we finally seem to be learnâ€" ing that high cost is not the same as, and does not assure, high qualiâ€" ty. later on. ihis is one of the emergâ€" ing dangers of the Social Contract and the ambient it seems to be establishing. The Board must not merely tie down the safety valve, allowing the pressure to build up. 4. Trustee John Scheel, in relentâ€" less pursuit of business logic applied to public enterprises, may yet succeed in stopping a 15â€"milâ€" lionâ€"dollar, very illâ€"advised, poorly analyzed, lowâ€"payoff energy conâ€" servation program. We‘re all in favor of saving energy, but for $300 per household added cost, we are supposed to invest in energy saving equipment that might pay off long after most of us are dead. Or it might not. We aren‘t quite sure, but we‘re asked to place a 15 million dollar bet. These efforts must not drop into oblivion about 1997 when, hopefulâ€" ly, economic times are better. The Board must guard against merely deferring salary and similar matters in a way that Jeads to wage, hiring, and computerâ€"buying explosions later on. This is one of the emersâ€" people pay for the education sysâ€" tem, your quality is never high enough, your costs are always too high. 117 rmssecmennemsonnntantece marman mc asmmnzze )nt BK J . "V% ’/f/é/’ ,////I/lf;/ f”?% ;’? Z ¢ Af" when, hopefulâ€" Dear Sir: Robert Glasbey Advertising Direcior Norman Alexander Edilor Geoff HIl Circulation Director Terl Casas Office Manager Tim Coles Production Manager Ian Oliver Publisher I am a resident of the Coronation Park area of Oakville, and have, on numerous occasions this summer, observed motorists on Lakeshore Rd. braking abruptly or swerving violently to avoid hitting squirrels. This valiant but totally misguided attempt to spare the life of a pesky, mangy, flea and tic infested, and sometimes rabid rodent, jeopardizes not only their own lives, but also the lives of other motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. This year has been a prolific one for squirrels, and roadâ€"kill is a very effective and necessary form of pest control in populated areas. Furthermore, the squirrel carcasses provide crows and other scavengers with a nutritious dietary alternative to hurmâ€"drum trash bag cuisine. I say, put the pedal to the metal and run the road rats down, thereby preâ€" venting a potential traffic tragedy. Continuing to give rightâ€"ofâ€"way to these rodents may encourage the Public Works Dept. to install "squirrel crossing" signs adjacent to the recently erected "geese crossing" signs on Lakeshore Rd. Hit a squirrel and save a life Perhaps she needs five years in opposition to develop a plan she can trust Canadians to understand. f Here‘s an out, Kim: Tell us you were quoted out of context. Sander Schimmelpenninck Ms Campbell is doubtless more intelligent and knows more about government than most voters. She might have done well under the ancient Greek form of government called aristocracy: unquestioned rule by the best and the brightest. But in Canada, A.D. 1993, her latest excuse reveals arrogance matched only by Trudeau‘s finger salute. Dear Sir: Kim Campbell says she has a plan to eliminate the federal deficit in five years. Anyone who can pull that off without massive disruption deserves to win by a landslide. But Ms Campbell will not describe her plan before the elections. First she blamed the incompatibility of government accounting sysâ€" tems. That failed to sway enough voters, coming as it did from someâ€" one who has held two key cabinet posts. Trudeau and Thatcher could get away with such conceit, because they had made the grade. Ms Campbell has yet to do so, witness her lagging behind the selfâ€"styled little guy from Shawinigan. Now it‘s lack of time. With only a month left before the elections, there is not enough of it to go into details, she says. ‘Holy rodent excrement, Batman Tell deficit cutting like it is Kim Estimated forest damage from pollution in Europe, 1991 Country PAY ATTENTIONL, varmarameanuarerennmmrmm rermemmr n anrermarmen n reamermmicmnumarmarernneemnreame en men mm en meemnerrrmmnnmmmanmermite LETTER OF THE DAY WEEKLY FOCUS Total forest area ‘},Share damaged (thousand hectares) "==* (percent) 2,200 8,654 4,491 3,372 31,592 9,828 3,314 1186 20,059 6,244 11,792 14 440 199 45% 41% 30% 26% 25% 22% which Includes: A â€" Quardian, Bur wdunz This Wook, Markham ), Milton Canadian Ohgxon ner, North York Miror, ile ok, Paterborough This Wosk, rough Minor * fls 16% 10% Peter Priverts jol ht e ahocs io 2A 7 :l:hy al u‘ d ndependent! )9